The Cursed and The Fallen
by Revelry In The Dark
Summary: In order to save the world Shouto must ally with unlikely friends and learn the forbidden art of Blood Magic. Possible smut, unlimited romance options, with fantasy fun and disaster
1. Blood Dawn

Ear piercing screams accompany ashen rain. The stench of blood and soiled corpses drag his mind to delirium as all around he continues to stave off his nearing, inevitable death. His lungs ache with the burning need for air, but smoke chokes him as a javelin barely misses his sternum. The push of magic is the only thing that saves him and even that action pushes him to collapse to his knees in exhaustion.

His staff hits the ground as his hands fall into a mixture of mud and blood. Swords hit shields, cleave flesh, and warriors choke on their blood as they meet death in shameful pleas.

Ballads are lies. Little fantasies to comfort widows and mothers with fallen children. They are propaganda to draw in young men, fill their heads with glory, and conscript them to these horrible, disgusting fates. There is nothing magnificent about what is happening around him, there is nothing worth singing songs about. This is hell on earth.

A Shrike Demon lights the sky with a lightning crack. There is a burst of light and the field filled with bodies and struggling warriors becomes visible. Mankind stands its ground with all if can, but the hoards are ceaseless, relentless. They are not living, they are not human, elf, or any creature with conscious will. Some once were; reanimated corpses set to the will of a necromancer...others, the Archdemon controls, a malicious ether spirit hellbent on misery. No nightmare compared.

And nothing compared to the silhouette of such an Archdemon looming over the battlefield against a red-blue sky, blocking every shard of sun...a formless mountain of pure magnitude if the crackle of lightning had not drawn its outline for the mage's bleary two toned eyes.

Shoto used every weary, shaking muscle in his arms to get himself onto his haunches, just to better take in the horror before him, just to better feel the crushing power of the defeat falling around him. To look the ether spirit head on and know that it was over.

They had lost. Every effort was for nothing. Thousands dead and the thousand left not far behind. The other mages had withheld as long as they could, but he was the only one left standing...kneeling. In the blood of his comrades, of his commander, of those he'd sworn to march to death with.

There was too much shock and horror to shed even a tear, there was no tangible fear, just paralysis. A nightmare of waiting for the next javelin not to miss. For the next burst of lightning to burn him to cinders. For this short, meaningless life to end in the horrible bloody fashion that he'd been brought into it.

But the cries of the battlefield fell suddenly silent. Sound pushed away, like he stood inside of a bubble, like the world around him was moving at a pace that was not real.

Shoto shook his head, disbelieving, blinking through the falling ash and agony. The corpses...the bodies around him were shaking and when sound burst back into focus he heard them squelching and cracking like they were breaking into so many horrible pieces. And from their mangled flesh, red, thick liquid rose as its own entity, drawing forward, pulling to a single source.

Every hair on Shoto's body stood on end. The source, the focus on the blood pool, the thing that drained every corpse in its presence and consumed every drop in a voracious fashion into the swirling glyphs, was a human...just a human. No demon, no reanimated creature. Her skin cracked in bright red lines, magic coursing through limb and vein, bursting from them in deep red light. Her mouth was open in an effort filled cry, the power that flooded her, more than Shoto had ever witnessed. More than he had ever been allowed to see.

Blood magic. The cursed practice. The most damnable action of any mage.

The blood drawn from their once compatriots turned to magic in the mage's hands, turned to physical power, and the ground shook as the Archdemon stepped forward, stepped to meet its foe.

On the battlefield Shoto would have been a fool not to anticipate death, but he could never have anticipated that his last sight in this world would be a blood mage facing off against an entire Archdemon.

The sky cracked again on the burst of lightning that the Achedemon's lesser blasted along the field of battle. Shoto's breath caught as it collided into the blood mage and his meager hope was momentarily dashed. But the power of the sky tapped the glyph in front of her hand and dissipated into nothing.

And without a moment to even acknowledge the attack the mage thrust her arm at the Shrike and tendrils leapt from her hand. They impaled deep into the demon's large body, stabbed through its chest. The shriek it immitted put both the warriors and the undead at a standstill, shaking at the bone rattling sound. But the Mage stood resolute, unmoving as the demon shriveled under the tendrils like the power was eating it alive.

The mage stood tall and gasped as the tendrils pulled back to a still swirling glyph and for a single moment she glanced back to Shoto, seeming to see the young, beaten mage for the first time. Her eyes burst with red, no color seen beyond the deep shade of blood. They held confidence, power, and the oddest smile pulled at the mage's face. How can a person smile while they stand in the final resting ground of thousands? While their blood flows to their fingers? While the most powerful creature in the known universe stands before them ready to destroy all?

Of all things, this mage turned to the greatest threat to their world with a smile.

Shoto's dreams were nerve wracking, feverish. Screams of the dead wracked his subconscious, never ceasing, never allowing peace. He didn't know if he was even alive. This could simply be the torment of the afterlife, his punishment for using magic in life. They were taught by the Synod that magic was of the ether, of the demons, and that those who used it were damned if they did not spend their lives in repentance. Perhaps they had been right. Perhaps he was facing the repercussion now for not repenting hard enough.

But the fever eventually broke and his delirium dissipated enough for him to be aware that he was alive and suddenly awake. The chattering around him, the white noise that had lulled him in and out of his fever dreams, had turned to violent ranting shouts. The sound of armor, weapons, and heavy rushing footfalls rose and Shoto blinked into the world, groggily.

He had overused his magic on the battlefield, he could feel that in every inch of his body, along with cuts, bruises, and fractured bones. He was weakened, but his mind was steadily becoming alert as the world around him cleared up.

It was the encampment outside of Dawnfell, the edge of man's world. His home of the last three weeks. He lay on a sheet in what was still being constructed as a makeshift ward. Those around him moaned and cried, limbs missing, deep injuries, some waiting for infection to take them and a few already being drug away to be dropped with the other bodies.

But the scrambling healers and their dying patients were not his concern. His concern was the rushing soldiers marching to the center of camp, swords raised, and anger unbridled. Shoto pushed himself slowly to his feet and he shoved away the healer that tried to stop him.

"You almost died, you must rest!" he shouted.

Shoto just shook his head and shoved him away, stumbling after the crowd.

It was barely dawn and an orange light glowed over this awful morning. The stench of death wafted over the barricade and it was everything he could do not to dry heave where he stood. It was amazing to see so many alive...to see anyone alive at all, and yet there was no comfort with this dawn, no joy of survival, just bloodlust...just men storming to their next fight. And Shoto had to know what this fight was.

He pushed through armored men and women, gasping for every weak breath, feeling that his legs were prepared to give out, until he came to the edge of the crowd and saw what stood at the center. Lord Sekijirou Kan, Commander of the Dawnfelden Armies, third in line for Lordship of Dawnfell, still dirtied from the battle as he was, stood cross armed at the center, his Captain at his side and before them...the mage.

The blood mage.

It all rushed back in a snap, Shoto barely catching his balance at the headrush. The mage crushing the life from the Shrike Demon...the blood of thousands coursing to her hands…the Archdemon...

"Abomination!" was the first horrified shout he heard.

"Death bringer!"

"Kill her before she feeds off of us!"

Lord Kan sternly shouted for silence over the gathered soldiers and they did as they were told, but muttered on, distantly.

"You are not one of our mages," Lord Kan looked down at the shackled mage, forced onto her knees in front of him by his elites guardsmen, "Where did you come from? Who are you?"

The mage jerked against their hands and opened her mouth to speak but Lord Kan's captain spoke first.

"Who gives a shit?" Katsuki, the captain, shouted, "It's a blood mage! Kill her before she can cast a spell and kill us all!"

His sword went up and Shoto half stepped to stop him, but Lord Kan grabbed the blond captain's arm before he had a chance.

"Stand down," he snapped at the volatile, short tempered man, "We aren't barbarians and we will hear a name and an explanation before we deliver an execution!"

He looked to the mage again, eyes narrow with distrust as he nodded for her to go ahead. The captain fumed at his side, but stepped back obediently.

"Nana," she ground her teeth, "Nana Shimura. I'm from Dawnfell, like the rest of you. I came here to fight the demons. To defend my home like everyone else. And I did so successfully, you're very welcome."

"Have you seen the field of corpses out there?" Katsuki shouted again, Lord Kan unable to stop him from stomping up to her and grabbing the front of her tunic, "What help did you give? Every man, woman, elf, and animal outside of these barricades is a shredded husk and you want us to believe you came here to help!"

"I took blood from corpses!" Nana rolled her eyes, "And I withstood a damn Archdemon so get off my back, boy!"

"How were you to know if everyone in that field were dead," Lord Kan hissed through his teeth, "You ended their lives…"

Nana's head fell, a few loose strands of black hair coming into her face. "I do not take pleasure in ending lives and if there were some still living that I drew power from know it was not intentional and you have my deepest regrets. But had I not done what I had, every last person standing here would have died and we would not be having this discussion. Those who may not have already been dead were well on their way, as was everyone else beyond this barricade and behind it had I not taken action."

"So you claim," Lord Kan puffed his chest, stepping forward, "But all we have is your word that you killed the Shrike and fended off the Archdemon. It sounds like you're just trying to save your own sorry skin, blood mage. You're justifying atrocities as your kind always do."

He spat on the ground beside her and she looked up at him harshly.

"Blood magic has its necessities...its place," Nana argued, rolling her eyes "and it can end this war...it can bring down the ether spirits! The only thing standing in the way of us putting an end to this war is you and your kind's unwillingness to accept necessary sacrifices or unconventional methods!"

"If you had really faced the Archdemon and won maybe you would have an argument," Lord Kan stepped back, making Katsuki move away with him as the guardsmen pulled her back to her feet, "But blood magic are selfish and tainted with demonic influence...there is no purpose besides a corrupting power and you are not any different...prepare the execution…"

Nana cursed as a riotous shout came over the crowd, vying for her death.

"Burn the blood mage!" the cry rattled against Shoto's brain and turned his already sick stomach to pain.

He had been taught since childhood to sit still and not speak...that a young mage was not meant to be heard, that to overcome the curse of magic...life must be given over to servitude and obedience to his superiors, which meant never doing what he was about to do.

"Stop!" he shouted shoving his way out of the crowd to come to the center before every already vengeful eye.

The guardsmen halted and the Commander and Captain eyed him with disdainful curiosity. Shoto would have looked like that too, if a slender mage in his breaches and bandages, marked over in Magesterium rune tattoos, and barely standing on his two wobbly legs had burst from the crowd at such a moment.

"My lord, please, don't do this," Shoto held his stomach close and stumbled a bit trying to find his balance on his trembling legs.

Lord Kan looked him over closely, surprise stretching his features. "So the mages didn't all die then. Which are you?"

"Shoto," he groaned and pushed down the horrible memory that arose of his many fellow mages falling in battle just hours ago.

Lord Kan raised an eyebrow. "Just Shoto?"

He nodded and pushed past the confusion over lack of last name. "Commander you can't kill her...she fought the Archdemon...I saw it…"

A mutter went through the crowd. He could feel the tangible tension, the hair that stood on end.

"I'm only alive because…" his skin was prickling and flush...this was the most he'd ever spoken without being interrupted or told to be silent, "She...I saw her destroy the Shrike...we all...everyone else fell to it. Master Ferris didn't even stand a chance! We lost hundreds to the Shrike alone and she killed it in one strike!"

"What are you say-"

"And she attacked the Archdemon!" Shoto continued, rushing with adrenaline, feeling Nana's eyes on him...feeling so many eyes on him, "It didn't move the entire battle, but it moved when it saw her...because she was a threat. And…"

The sights that filled his memory of how she fought the Archdemon staggered him, shook him to the bone. The magic she employed, the fearless action she took. The smile on her face as she faced possible death.

"The Archdemon backed down under her attack," Shoto said, meeting Lord Kan's eye, "Blood magic or not...I've never seen something like that before...the Synod has never done something like that before outside of the Magestrate. Thirty high mages have faced an Archdemon and lost with all the power in their capacity behind them. We can't afford to kill someone who had the strength to make the Archdemon retreat."

The crowd continued to mutter, but Lord Kan was quiet with consideration. His captain was less thoughtful about it.

"I should have known a mage would try to defend her," Katsuki spat, "You'd like us all to be overrun with your tainted kind! And isn't it suspicious how you're the only mage that survived and you're now defending a blood mage! You should be executed with her!"

"Enough!" Lord Kan roared at his captain.

Shoto was stunned. Not at the suspicion or the shout from the Commander, but the aching rage that shook inside his captain. It was not normal anger. Katsuki was always angry. This...was something far deeper, rooted, emotional.

But the captain stepped back at Lord Kan's staying hand and fumed silently to himself, suspicious gaze never leaving the young mage.

"Whether you like it or not," Lord Kan grumbled, "Shoto is the only mage left. Which means he's the only Synod representative we have. I don't like any of it...I don't even know if I believe what he says, but we have no outright authority to deal with a blood mage."

"But Commander-!"

Katsuki was cut off again by Lord Kan's firmly raised hand.

Shoto could barely believe the words he was hearing. He was the Synod representative now? He hadn't even thought about that. He hadn't expected to survive until today. Had never considered a reality where he was the only mage left standing out of the fifty that were stationed at Dawnfell.

"I will not turn my back on law and tradition in the face of the plight," Lord Kan spoke firmly to every gathered body, "We are not the demons, we abide by our laws. And our laws dictate that the mages have the final say in the fate of blood mages and necromancers. And until the Synod reinforces us...Shoto is all we have."

There was a displeased mumble amidst the crowd and the very idea of being the Synod's representative here at the fronts irked him greatly. But a touch of relief came with it, that his pleas were heard.

Perhaps it was because Lord Kan knew...very few outside of the mages did, but it was possible. Those old laws were set in place for a reason. It was important that a mage execute a Fallen. The magic that blood mages and necromancers dealt in was dangerous in a way laymen could not imagine. Blood mages in the past had been known to draw lifeblood from those around them while dying, rehealing open wounds, stitching heads back to their necks, bringing themselves back from the brink of death while consuming those around them. And necromancers...many had already placed measures to resurrect themselves were death to strike and without trained mages overseeing the process with the proper wards, the execution of one mage could end in many more, horrible deaths.

Shoto had not been taught these wards. Certain mages were trained as executioners for that exact purpose, but he knew enough about it to know that to even attempt to execute Nana could turn this already devastating day into a second nightmare for the encampment.

But more than that...she stood against the Archdemon and she saved his life. She'd saved all their lives. With blood magic. He had no idea how to feel about that, but he knew she didn't deserve to die. She should be being praised by this crowd right now. Yet they vied for her to burn.

"I guess I'm saved then," Nana chuckled and shrugged against the hands of the guardsmen.

Lord Kan glared at her. "Not quite. I will send word to the Synod. We need reinforcements and a true representative. When the new cohort arrives they will decide your fate."

Shoto's chest burned at the very thought of his fellow mages coming an undoing this stand he had just made. He'd really only saved her for a few weeks at most.

Nana and Lord Kan made full eye contact, stubbornness aflush in both faces. "I doubt they will be as merciful as mage Shoto here."

With a forceful pull the guardsmen drug Nana away, the spry older mage kicking and fighting every step of the way. She was on her way to be chained and imprisoned until mages arrived to execute her and yet he saw no diminishing in her spirit. Shoto was shocked to watch her. He'd never seen a mage have that much vibrancy on even their best day. It was hard to believe she even bore the curse of magic...let alone blood magic.

The many unhappy eyes around him started to feel like knives and Shoto began to feel especially small under them.

"She'll kill us in our sleep," some muttered.

"I can't believe the Commander would listen to that mage."

"How suspicious that only he survived and now defends a blood mage…"

Shoto turned to argue with them and completely lost the little strength he had left in his legs. He hit the ground with a hiss, pain shooting through his body, stinging injuries he hadn't take the time to realize he had.

"Get him to the healer!" he heard Kanshout.

A few hands began to lift him back to his feet and he lost sense of what was going on as he was carried back through the encampment.

Fear cut his every nerve, plaguing him. It was the only thing he could still hold onto. Fear that, until the Synod sent another Master, he was all that stood between Nana Shimura and a gruesome execution. That when the Master arrived, Shoto didn't believe he could stop him. Fear that the entire encampment was primed to turn on him. And fear, above all else, that he actually wanted to know more about the blood mage.


	2. False Hopes

"So are you saying that transformation magic is a form of alchemy or are you saying that it's a disguise and the specimen isn't actually altered? Or if they are altered and it isn't alchemy, what is it then?"

The questions rattled off faster than Izuku could stop himself from asking them. It was a persistent problem he had of vocalizing his thoughts without them being asked for and too quickly for them to be answered before the next one followed. His weary teacher, Master Shota Aizawa groaned on the chattering that followed him, but Izuku was not so easily deterred.

His notebook was open in one hand, scrawled with illegible notes, while three tomes sat tucked under his other arm. Izuku was assigned as an apprentice to the masterful mage and the regret of the half-breed was evident in his every step. Master Shota's patience was a short thing and Izuku had a tendency to test it at every turn.

Izuku was more than well aware that he had little chance of rising into the high ranks of the Synod without persistence and he believed that he absolutely had the tenacity to do it, but mages didn't tend to like bright personalities and cheery attitudes. There was a solemnity to their studies and their work and it caught their eyes negatively to see a smile. Which was all the more wonder why the Synod had chosen Izuku to stay on at the Center Magesterium to study with the Synod, to be apprentice to Master Shota. He wasn't their type at all. But he wasn't going to turn away his good luck. There was something about him that they wanted to cultivate and he was ready and willing to be that tool.

"This subject is not relevant to your studies," Shota said blandly, "Have you studied the new power form I showed you?"

Izuku snapped closed the notebook and shoved it with the other transcripts before flicking out his wrist and pulling out a glyph. With a swift motion he pulled down and a glowing green energy crackled along his arm. Another quick motion and the force of his hand pushing air sent a gusting force across the hall, knocking a passing mage's book clean from his hand.

They kept walking as the man griped and the glyph disappeared.

"Of course, I did," Izuku held his head high, "I did all I could with it last night and I started diving into these tomes instead. There's a lot of books on shapeshifting, but no Synod mage practices it, so I figured I'd try to figure out why. It's not a banned magic so its user aren't Fallen Mages, so why isn't it a part of Magesterium studies?"

Master Shota came to a full stop and Izuku stumbled at the swiftness of it, looking green eyes up at his Master. The man was tall and lanky; lightly pointed ears pushed through long, messy black hair, but little else said he was elf-kind. He lacked the regality that most had. The tired stance, the dark circles below his eyes, and the tightly set mouth all spoke of humanity and years in the mage lifestyle.

He looked at Izuku with a disdainful glare, harshness in his tone. "Bog Magic is irrelevant to a Synod mage, I've told you this before and I won't say it again. If you want to be a part of our rank and file then you will stop studying outside of your realm and practice what we tell you. Is that understood?"

Izuku's head fell and he huffed out air through his nostrils. "Yes."

"Now stop interrupting me so I can tell you where you're going," Shota grumbled, continuing their walk.

Izuku rushed to keep up, suddenly awake to something he'd missed before. "I'm going somewhere?"

"It's what I was trying to tell you when you started babbling about shapeshifters," Master Shota said, shortly, "The Synod needs every man in action these days. Even the untested. Our experienced mages are being sent to the battlefields to suppress demon infestation and plights to the lands that don't have an army prepared to defend them. Our healers are stretched thin across the kingdom and we have to provide protection to the royal houses as well. There are few left to handle the more menial tasks, which means that our younger mages are being tested with assignments sooner than is normal."

Pride flushed up from Izuku's chest and into his face. He was a brand new apprentice, fresh from the Magesterium, barely two months into his training under Master Shota and already he was being sent out into the kingdom on official Synod business. This was huge.

"What am I doing?" Izuku was smiling wide, "Where am I being sent? Am I going alone?"

Another frown from Shota stifled the rest of his questions as they approached the small meeting chamber. It really stuck at that moment that this was both real and serious. He'd never entered this room, let alone been allowed a place in the conversations had here. This was for Masters and experienced mages and yet here he was, passing through these doors.

When he entered he was at first awed by the very professional outlay, strategic map set in the center of the room, very little seating, no windows for prying eyes to peer through and lit blue-flamed lanterns circling the middle. Around the table stood Master Shinji Nishiya and an older apprentice named Yo Shindo.

"Thank you for joining us," Master Shinji nodded to them both as the door closed behind them.

Master Shota gave a short greeting and directed Izuku to stand beside him at the table. The younger mage was in awe and simply stood with an open mouthed stare at the Master across from him, the man called Kamui Woods for his incredible control of nature magic. He wanted to gush and tell him how incredible he thought he was, but the looks around the table said that this was serious and no time could be wasted on such frivolities.

"Izuku Midoriya," Master Shinji addressed him directly, "It's not normal to pull an apprentice from their studies like this, but we are short handed and you are talented and diligent so we are sending you with Yo on this assignment."

"I'm honored!" Izuku bowed his head and struggled to hold himself still.

There was a distant, breathy laugh from Yo, who crossed his arms at the mage. "That'll wear off quickly," Yo rolled his eyes.

"Abide your tongue," Master Shinji calmly chided Yo, "You would benefit to still find excitement in your services. You are too young to be so soured."

Yo gave another roll of his eyes and Shinji moved on, seeming used to it.

"The task is simple, though it may come with complications," Master Shinji placed his finger on the map against a village deep inland, "We have been informed by our agents that a renegade mage has been seen in Landsleave Village. The townspeople claim she has lived there her entire life, which means she has never been Magesterium trained or counseled."

"A potential Fallen," Yo filled in the space that wasn't outright said by his master.

Izuku's eyes widened.

Master Shinji continued. "It's not grave enough to send our more valuable mages, as she has not posed an immediate threat, but in times like these especially we cannot have renegade mages running uncontrolled through the land. Just the fear and panic it will cause is enough to make this an important task. I need you and Yo to go to Landsleave and retrieve this mage by whatever means necessary."

That last bit seemed rather open ended and Izuku was prepared to delve deeper into what 'by whatever means necessary' meant, but Yo stepped in before he could.

"We'll bring her here kicking and screaming if we have to," Yo turned to plant his hands on the table, a wry grin on his face.

Thrill and anxiousness swirled in Izuku's head. Such a high stakes, risky assignment was everything he could have wanted, but at the same time he was stifled by the thought that this was the first time in a long time that he will have been out in the world outside of the Magesterium. Especially as a full fledged mage. The mages were given opportunities to spend time in the nearby village once a week while growing up in the Magesterium, but those times were limited and closely scrupulized. This time he would not be watched by hawkeyed masters and he was not just going to the little marketplace by the town center. It was Landsleave, a city he had read to be quaint and farm heavy, but on the edges of the overpowering might of Tarlson, the greatest military power in the kingdom. This was a real journey, a possible adventure.

"We won't let you down," Izuku bounced, already mentally flipping through the list of techniques he wanted to review before they took to the road.

Master Shota seemed not to care one way or another if Izuku and Yo let them down, but Master Shinji gave a professional nod to the young mage.

"And who exactly is this person we're detaining?" Izuku thought to ask before the meeting could be concluded.

Master Shinji straightened and grabbed a scroll, marked with the seal of the Synod Agency, the sect that oversaw the communications between the Synod and the mages within the lordships across the kingdom. It was an official document, their assignment.

He placed it in Yo's hand and said to Izuku, "A girl name Ururaka Ochako."

"I don't fucking like this!"

Lord Kan sighed into his hands and wiped at the dark circles beneath his eyes. Shoto felt especially uncomfortable to be standing here at a time like this. There had been only a mere day of quiet outside of the barricade and the survivors had barely begun to mourn the heavy losses. But there was very little time for such comforts as grieving in the midst of this war and the soldiers had diligently taken to the commands of their lieutenants, tending to the wounded, refortifying the encampment, and disposing of the bodies within the barricade. The fallen soldiers outside were simply left. There were too many and it was too dangerous to be outside of the walls, so the drained husks that remained after Nana's attack remained, rotting and turning to the land. The entire landscape smelled sickly with the stench and the soldier's wretched themselves regularly.

This had not been a victory, it had been survival. And it was apparent on the Lord Commander's face that the last thing he wanted to deal with right now was a blood mage in his prison or even the issue of the mage standing in front of him right now. It seemed Katsuki agreed with the Commander on that, his attitude towards Shoto, persistently terrible and harsh. But Shoto couldn't blame him, couldn't be upset at it. He didn't like the position he'd been thrust into either.

By midday Shoto had awoken feeling stronger and able to move around without hobbling. He had the wherewithal to dress, to cinch his robes and clean the blood and grime from his staff. So when he was called to Lord Kan's tent he was able to come presentably. He was the Synod representative until further notice, after all, he had to try and look like it.

"So you keep telling me," Lord Kan grumbled, "Sit down, Katsuki, you'll wear a hole into the earth."

He looked at his captain wearily as he shot back and forth in a frustrated pace in front of the tent's entrance, hand hovering over sword, eyeing Shoto suspiciously.

"I don't like the situation either, My Lord," Shoto said calmly, far more composed than he had been that morning. He really hadn't been himself in that moment, but to do what he did, he couldn't have been.

"Welcome to a real war," Lord Kan sighed, sitting back at his desk. Maps and correspondences laid out in front of him in piles and none looked positive. "We make do with what we have and if we can't we hope for an honorable death."

Katsuki scoffed. "Fuck dying honorably. There's no honor in death, you're just fucking dead and it means shit-nothing."

That statement unnerved Shoto more than he liked to admit. "So the thousands dead beyond the barricade meant nothing?"

"You heard me," Katsuki sounded venomous, but the look Lord Kan was directing towards him was far more poisonous.

"Talk philosophy on your own time," Lord Kan huffed, "We have bigger issues. We need reinforcements, supplies, medicine for the wounded. The ether armies could reemerge any moment. And in the middle of it all is a damned blood mage sitting in my prison, untouchable."

There was spite on Lord Kan's tongue and Shoto fought his ingrained instinct to shrink under it. His frustration reminded Shoto of the Masters and his body told him to expect a rebuke, verbal or otherwise. It didn't come though. The Lord Commander's anger was not directed to the mage and he did not lash out irrationally like Shoto was used to. It bolstered a confidence in the mage, posed the question of what power Lord Kan had really just given him by stating he was the Synod representative.

"I wish to speak with her," Shoto stated coolly, "I think we should know more about what happened. I can't get what I saw out there out of my mind."

"Which is all the more terrifying," Lord Kan grimaced, "What she must be capable of...what that could do if turned on us… Blood Mages are part of The Fallen for a reason. That magic is particularly tainting. It reeks of the ether, of death, and corruption. A blood mage cannot be pure hearted. We cannot trust her no matter what she says her intentions are. But since I doubt you are equipped to dispose of her, we have no choice but to hold her until the Synod sends reinforcements."

"Why?" Katsuki growled and finally stormed past Shoto to slam his fist on the desk, "I can take this sword and decapitate her right now! She's powerful, but she's still flesh and blood."

Shoto's hand went up and Katsuki threw him a menacing look.

"Captain, it's not that simple," Shoto was hesitant, unsure if he should explain, unsure if he had the right to decide what this non-mage should know. He looked to Lord Kan, as if asking what he should do. The Commander just grit his teeth and shook his head.

"What's not simple about it?" Katsuki barked at Shoto.

"It doesn't matter," Lord Kan drew them both back, "We will not kill her. The Synod will handle her fate. What matters right now is that Shoto can ensure that she won't use her magic against us or escape in the meantime. We have plenty to worry about in preparing for the next onslaught without looking over our shoulders for blood magic every moment. Can you do that, Shoto?"

Assuring that a blood mage wouldn't use blood magic would require wards that Shoto didn't know. It was the same reason he could not carry out her execution. At most he could use certain healing spells to keep her docile, which weren't even particularly subduing. But he didn't have to tell Lord Kan that. He needed this opportunity and he would say what he had to to get close to the prisoner.

"I can," Shoto nodded, "I will look after the blood mage until the Synod sends reinforcements and the new Master can deal with her."

Shoto's swiftness to answer got a raised eyebrow from Lord Kan, but he didn't say anything further about it. He just tilted his head and grabbed the stack of new letters.

"Good, then see to it," The Lord Commander said, "You may leave. The Captain and I need to discuss our strategy."

Shoto was more than happy to be dismissed. The last thing he wanted was to listen to the day's reports. It would be dismal and disheartening and they had already taken such heavy casualties. The last thing he wanted to hear on top of it all was that the other Lords wouldn't send reinforcements or bandits had held up supply routes or the myriad of other issues that were likely on their way. The world outside of the Lord Commander's tent was far more welcoming, despite the disdain that permeated the very air.

Since that morning the encampment had turned a harsh eye to Shoto. No one liked a man who would stand in defense for a Fallen Mage. Many looks were accusing...some fearful. Some were simply spiteful. And he knew why. Out of the entire cohort the Synod has sent, Shoto, of all of them, was the only one left standing.

And he was no one's favorite. Shoto had made no friends since arriving at the encampment. He stayed to himself and studied his tomes and practiced his magic. The other mages could hardly get him to engage with them, let alone the soldiers.

At the time, his bad attitude was anger driven. He was never supposed to be here.

Battle mages were useful, but they were fodder in this war. Shoto was powerful, strong. He deserved better than this shit station. He should have been in the Synod like Izuku...

Shoto's chest tightened as he walked to the prison area, his mind pulled to that last night at the Magesterium...that horrible fight. He'd never been good at making friends, but Izuku had forced his way in and demanded that friendship despite Shoto's best efforts. It took time, but Shoto eventually accepted the friendship and until that last day they had supported each other in reaching their goals. But Shoto had been unnecessarily cruel to him after they were told their assignments. It wasn't Izuku's fault that the Synod had damned Shoto to the front lines instead of taking him into their upper ranks. And now, on a day after certain death had barely passed him by, all Shoto could think about was that the only friend he had in this entire, harsh world, probably hated him. That his last words to him would be biting forever, with no chance to make that right.

Just one more cruel trick of this unfair world.

The prison was makeshift at best, stakes in the ground forming a small cage, with its prisoner chained in the center to a post, half soaking in the mud beneath her. She didn't show that it affected her. She was still smiling.

The guardsmen stopped Shoto as he approached, their own suspicion matching that of the other soldiers in the camp. He stated his business, told them of Lord Kan's orders for him to secure the prisoner with magic and dismissed them. They didn't like it, but Lord Kan had publicly given him the authority to make such a demand and they had no choice but to listen.

When they were out of earshot, Nana twinkled a beautiful grin towards the young man and shifted in the mud as if she could get more comfortable somehow.

"You said your name was Shoto?" she looked him up and down, assessing him, "I should probably thank you for saving me this morning. Are you here to execute me now? Did your Commander change his mind?"

Shoto watched the ground closely. "I'm not here to kill you...the Synod will decide that when the reinforcements arrive."

"Ah!" she chuckled, "Then what is it?"

There was hesitance as Shoto tried to gather his question into words. It was hard to say exactly why he was here, he just knew that there was more he had to know about the blood mage and what she had done.

"I...don't understand what happened last night and I'm trying to. The Lord Commander instructed me to make sure you weren't a danger to the encampment, but I'm really here because...I guess I don't really know."

"I think you do," she tilted her head, "You're the first Synod mage that's ever seen me perform blood magic and not immediately tried to bring me to justice. I think you want me to resolve the conflict you're feeling about defending me. That can't have been easy for someone of your upbringing to do."

Shoto frowned, because it was true. He wanted to be validated in saving her life...but he also wanted to be reassured that blood mages were truly as awful as he'd always heard. She would be executed when the new Master arrived and he needed to be okay with her being killed despite what he saw during the battle. Despite knowing that she was the only reason he was alive. The only reason he had not met the horror of death by the hands of a Shrike Demon.

"I have very little to lose," Nana laughed, "I'm more than willing to answer any questions you have. I owe you that much, don't I?"

Shoto nodded, refocusing. "You aren't like any mage I've ever seen...not because of the blood magic. I've seen Fallen Mages before and I grew up in the Magesterium surrounded by the greatest of our kind and none were ever like you. Except for maybe one..."

Izuku's obnoxious, persistent smile stuck in his mind at how similar it was to hers and he grew freshly annoyed at the memory. Somehow, while the grin of his once friend still struck a sensitive chord in him, Nana's was strangely warming and it felt wrong to be somewhat enchanted by it. By a blood mage.

"You mean my incredible personality?" she winked and shrugged, "I didn't grow up in a Magesterium like most mages. That's all the explanation you should need."

Shoto frowned. "Then how did you learn your magic? How were you able to control it? Without the Magesterium-"

"Without the Magesterium I grew up like any other kid, with a happy childhood and a fruitful adulthood," Nana rolled her eyes, "I know it's been ingrained in you since infancy, but the Magesterium is not the end all for every child born with the touch of magic. Believe it or not there are others who understand magic besides the Synod. And there is more than just the Dark Arts that they keep from students like yourself."

Shoto searched his memory of the many different magic subjects they had studied in the Magesterium over the years and looked up at her with interest. "Like the Bog Mages?"

She shrugged, "I suppose, but I can at least agree with the Synod that they are primitive in their use of magic. I learned from the Solstice Elves. I'm sure that surprises your young, indoctrinated mind to know that I'm not some bloodlusting abomination, clawing at power with a meat cleaver. I grew up learning nature magic. Bending the wood of a tree, lifting the ground beneath my feet, filtering rejuvenating essence into crops to yield fruitful harvests."

The clamor of the encampment became a distant thrum as Shoto drew very close to the cell, curiosity flecking his dull expression.

"How does a nature mage become a blood mage?" He looked at her closely, trying to pull apart the cause and reason of what she said. She had a strong body and a firm chin beneath her vivacious eyes and messed black hair. The physique of a laborer, but the spirit of a forest dwelling elf.

"I returned to Dawnfell when I became an adult, thrilled to bring useful magic back to my family," she mused, a distant smile on her lips, "To build up my cousins crops, to expand the Dawnsend forest, to protect my home. But then the Synod came for me."

Darkness filled her eyes and her smile turned to grit teeth. "A man came for me. The man the Synod now calls, the Magestrate."

Air slipped clean from Shoto's lungs. It didn't sound real, what she was telling him. The Magestrate's identity was lost when he accepted the mantle and for a mage Shoto's age, no older than twenty, that lost identity was an unknowable thing. His name was redacted from scrolls, books, and tomes. His identity lost to time and the memory of those who knew him before.

"You...knew the Magestrate?"

"Knew him?" Nana scoffed and shook her head, "My dear Shoto, I escaped him. Barely. The last thing I ever want is to know that man. I lost every person I ever cared about to him. When he came for me I resisted and when a mage is sent to retrieve a renegade they are given leave to use any means necessary to get the job done. He burned my family home before my eyes with my family still inside of it. My mother, my brothers, my son…still just a boy."

The pained look she bore passed to something fond. "He was talented too. His father was an elven mage and he had an incredible gift for creation. He once held a seed in his hand and willed it to sprout and bloom as we watched."

There was a lump in Shoto's throat, watching how her mind lingered in some far away place and time. More because she did not show sorrow over it, even as she reminisced of her dead child.

But when Nana drew back in she became serious again, though the light tone had never left her. "I realized my magic was not strong enough to truly defend those I cared about so I set on a new journey, to learn everything. It took me across the kingdom, through the elven nations, and even the bogs. I found my purpose in defending the innocent. Doing what mages are supposed to do."

Nana pushed her foot through the mud and circled her heel in the muck, making sloppy, useless glyphs.

"Then the first demon emerged and I almost failed again," Nana said.

"Wait...if what you're saying is true then you've barely been a blood mage for even a year," Shoto assessed the timeline, seeing that she hadn't mentioned learning it yet and if she was speaking of the demons arriving that brought her story to this past year.

"No," Nana shook her head, "The Synod tells everyone that the first demon emerged last winter, but they have been plaguing the outskirts for nearly three years. The threats remained small enough to subdue without alarming the entire kingdom until the attack on Windstone. Then they had no choice but to call the nation to arms. But long before that came to be, I witnessed something that changed me."

The blood mage leaned forward, lip quirked up in a smirk that had Shoto on his tiptoes with anticipation.

"I saw a blood mage fight an Inferno Demon to dust," she said, "With a single ounce of blood and without breaking a sweat."

Thoughts of Nana defeating the Shrike the night before filtered through his memory and a certain awe returned to him. No matter how much of horror that night had been or how dangerous this mage was, that action was still the most incredible thing he had ever seen.

"When the battle had ended I went to him and asked him to explain," Nana said, "Like most I was told that blood magic was corruption incarnate, but what I had seen had saved thousands of lives, using only his own blood. He was not as charming or friendly as me, but he didn't turn me away either. After persistently pestering him for answers, he finally gave in and explained to me what he had done, much like I am doing for you, though I'm taking up much more of your time and sprinkling in my life story with it. You'll forgive me for getting a head start on the wise old spinster act, I may not live long enough to get there naturally."

Shoto felt his cheek tug just a little, but stayed his expression into nothing. There really was something charming about the way she spoke and it warmed his gut in a way he was not familiar with.

"Just tell me what the man said," Shoto forced out a glare to make her move on to her point.

"He told me of how blood magic affects creatures of the ether," Nana spoke with a thrill that Shoto found was very like Izuku when he caught onto the trick of a new spell, "It tears far deeper than any normal attack spell. It can destroy an Inferno or a Shrike in moments...and with enough power behind it, it can kill an Archdemon."

Shoto's eyes fell as he considered what that meant. Killing an Archdemon? Even the Magestrate backed by every mage in the Synod would not be able to accomplish that. In the past the resolution was always to banish the creature back to the ether. To find the summoner and use them as a conduit to return the demon. But to kill one?

"Impossible," Shoto said softly to himself.

"Not impossible," Nana snatched back his attention, eyes hopeful on him, "It can be done. I could have killed the Shrike using just my own blood, but I drew in the blood of the entire battlefield for the power to face the Archdemon. I came here to end this war. And I came so close...I could feel it...I had him at his brink...but then…"

Shoto grabbed the bars, searching her eyes. "Then what?"

"The summoner," Nana said in a hushed voice, "I saw him just beyond the battlefield. The Archdemon was almost finished, but the summoner breathed new life into it, undid my every attack. The Archdemon was weakened enough to retreat, but it will be back and only blood magic can stop it."

"You saw the summoner?" Shoto could hardly believe what he was hearing.

"Only his silhouette," Nana shook her head, "But I felt his presence like no other and I saw his magic. He felt like death…"

"Then blood magic isn't the answer," Shoto washed over in relief, "If we can find the summoner then the Archdemon can be banished just like it's always been done."

"No, Shoto," Nana sighed, "Not this time. Through blood magic a demon can be banished in the same way that the Magestrate uses the summoner as a conduit. The basis of this magic type allows it to affect the demons in such a way that it also has a controlling connection over them. A blood mage can banish a demon, just as he can destroy it. But this army...these demons, they can't be banished. We tried. Even the least of their ranks cannot be exercised out of this realm. They are grounded here and we don't know how. They can't be sent back...they can only be destroyed."

Shoto's lips parted as his glare tore into the ground, trying to understand what she was saying to him.

"Shoto you must listen to me," Nana was leaning as far as she could against her shackles, eyes pleading for him to heed her words, "There is no other way to end this, you have to trust me. I thought all I had to do was face the Archdemon and we would win, but we have to stop the summoner first. I came here yesterday expecting that I would die in my attempt, but me and the Archdemon still live and I believe it's for a reason. I believe there's a reason you survived too. Because there is more I can do...because I have another chance to kill it!"

The two, unmatched colors of his eyes lifted, meeting her dark gaze. He didn't know what to think...what to believe. How could he believe that magic of a Fallen Mage was the only hope left? How could she ask him to believe that the Magestrate was not powerful enough to banish the Archdemon or to stop the Summoner?

The first act on the emergence of demons was to send out mages in search of the Summoner. Demons cannot enter the mortal realm without one. The hope in everyone's hearts was that they would simply need to hold the line at Dawnfell until the Summoner was found and subdued. But if what Nana said was at all true...then finding the Summoner wouldn't end this. Wouldn't stop the Archdemon. But strand it here, free to consume the earth.

"I...can't believe that," Shoto said softly, finally, "If I believe it, then I have to believe that everything in this world will die. That there's no hope. That the strength of the Synod is false and my entire, miserable life is a heinous lie...it's already a tragic fucking disappointment...don't make it that too."

Shoto shoved away from the cell and turned his back to her. He marched away, twisting and internally writhing with a horrible fear, a denial of what he had heard, but a lingering doubt in his judgment that she was wrong. Her voice followed him as he left, though, strong and more alive than he'd ever felt as it called his doom after him.

"There is hope, Shoto!" she said, "I can show you if you let me! Allow me to save the world!"

He grit his teeth and threw out a spell behind him, green light touching the air as a sleep enchantment filtered through the bars, taking the prisoner in its grasp. Her voice slipped away and her head fell against her chest, unconscious instantly.

Unable to hear more of this blasphemy, this Synod defying rhetoric, he obeyed his original order from Lord Kan to keep her subdued. He would need to return every few hours to reapply the spell, but she wouldn't be casting any curses in her sleep at least.

And she wouldn't be making him question everything with her grating falsehoods either.


	3. Uncertain Futures

"Togata, wait up! Seriously slow down this is ridiculous-"

Momo's foot caught on her skirt and her tongue caught on her words as she face planted into a muddy patch of earth in the courtyard. It was preferable to smashing her chin into the cobblestone, but the taste of wet dirt in her mouth wasn't what she wanted either.

A hearty laugh greeted her as she lifted her head and pushed herself back to her feet. The tall, blond boy was holding his gut in side splitting cackles at the mess his cousin had made of herself. She kicked the mud at him in retaliation and spat the disgusting tastes from her mouth. Momo loved her beautiful dresses, but this is why she never wore them when trying to keep up with Togata. They were a terrible tripping hazard.

"I hate you," she scrunched her nose at him and shoved his shoulder.

He was an entire unit of a human being so it didn't even lightly budge him, but he gave her head a condescending pat as he wiped amused tears from his eyes.

"You'll keep up one of these days," he winked.

"Stop it," she knocked his hand away and took a seat on the half wall surrounding the little garden at the courtyard center, "Are you going to talk to me or not?"

Togata shrugged and sighed, giving up his game. She wanted to talk about serious things and he had been trying not to spoil his good mood. Of course his first recourse was to run and tell her to catch him if she could. It was hard to believe he was the older one. The one charged with commanding real armies. How did his men take him seriously with a fun loving, childish attitude like that?

"What's up?" he sat next to her, smiling like a ray of sunshine as usual.

"You haven't said anything about her since father said she was coming," Momo continued to rub the mud from her face, "You act fine about everything, but are you actually? This doesn't seem like the time to be forcing betrothals. We're probably all going to die in the next few months anyway and-"

"Hold up," Togata cut her off, "Who said we're all going to die?"

Momo grit her teeth and frowned. "I listen to the war counsels, okay. Father's trying to protect me, but I need to hear this stuff. It's my country too. I have to rule it one day. I should know how doomed we are, shouldn't I?"

"We aren't doomed, Momo," Togata shook his head, "The news from Dawnell is bad, but it's not world ending. We've fought off demon infestations before. As long as the Synod stands, we'll do it again."

Momo wasn't quite convinced. That hadn't been the tone of the last meeting she'd listened to. She'd rarely heard her father's booming, cheerful voice sound so solemn. The casualties were staggering and the request from Dawnfell begged for any spare resources the king could muster. The line was barely holding.

But like his uncle, Togata liked to protect Momo from those grave realities. Neither of them would ever be honest with her about the true state of the world. She wouldn't get him to admit anything different.

"You're getting me off topic," Momo glared, crossing her arms, "I was asking you about the Todoroki girl?"

Togata chuckled. "I don't know her, what can I say? I'm sure she's great. I think I saw her once while we were at Tarlson supporting refortifications last summer, but I didn't see much of the family in general. Outside of her father, of course."

"What was he like?" Momo swung her legs.

"He was amazing, honestly," Togata nodded, "I've never seen someone fight like him or lead so confidently."

It felt like there was a 'but' coming and Momo narrowed her eyes at him, waiting for it.

"But," he caught her look, "kind of a jerk."

Momo snorted an unladylike laugh. "The Lord of Tarlson is a jerk? That's the best word you could come up with to describe the most powerful Lordship in the country?"

Togata laughed. "It's true, though. He wasn't very nice and he frowned a lot."

Momo continued to giggle at the description and the amused frustration on Togata's face was only making it worse.

"Not everyone can be a pushover like you," Momo said, "Some people actually have to /command/ the armies they command."

"I'll push you back in the mud," he glared, struggling to feign severity, "How come when I'm actually trying to be serious you don't take me seriously?"

"Okay, okay!" Momo stifled her laughter and calmed herself, "You're right. I'm sure he's terrible. But does that concern you?"

Togata gave a half nod, half shrug. "A little. I'm going to do my duty, just like you, but I really hope she's not like her father. But on the upside, if she is, I have a whole war keeping me away from her!"

"And best case scenario you can just die a hero and she and your quickly produced heir can mourn you from the comfort of your parents' villa," Momo joked, "It's a win-win! Your line goes on, the Todoroki's get what they want, and you get to avoid being a henpecked old man listening to a griping Todoroki til you die in your sleep."

"I like it," Togata beamed a smile at her, "A solid plan all around. We should work out something for you too if Uncle Yagi picks someone horrible for you. But you'll be queen by then, so you could probably just have him executed or quietly disposed of in the night."

"Don't give me ideas, Toga," she said, "But I like the way you think,"

The two shook hands like they had made some sort of agreement and laughed the whole thing off. The moment they settled into the sort of comfortable silence that they had come to know well over the years Togata had lived with them there, horns sounded outside of the castle walls. They both stood, alert and anxious, knowing what they meant.

Momo turned a last concerned look to Togata, but he was as bright and cheerful as ever.

"Ready to meet your bride?" Momo asked.

Togata shrugged again, "Ready as I'll ever be. Race you?"

He didn't wait for her, even shoving her to get a head start and laughing as he took off across the courtyard. Momo recovered fast and hiked up her skirt to take off after him, red faced with amusement and anger.

"No fair! Wait up!"

"It's so beautiful here! Look at that tree it's shaped like a horse! It smells like pine, is there an evergreen forest nearby?"

"You have to stop talking."

Yo had been neither amused nor entertained by Izuku the entire trip. The weariness in his expression was starting to remind Izuku of Mater Shota, but with a vile sort of snear turning his lips. They had already been on the road for two days and Yo's patience with the traversal had died before the first was out. He'd snapped at Izuku to be silent more than a few times already, but it was hard for the mage fresh out of the Magesterium to quell his excitement with this world that was so new and interesting to him.

They'd passed a couple towns with the most incredible villages. One had rolling hills of grapevines and another had a statue of the previous Magestrate erected taller than a building. It was both ominous and awe inspiring as the Magestrate was always told to be. He hoped he could meet the real man himself someday and secretly, deep down, where he would never tell a soul, he wished to be him. The leader of all mages, the most powerful and inspiring presence in the world...how could he not want that? The change he could affect was unimaginable.

Izuku's years in the Magesterium had made him naive in many ways and he was aware of it. He didn't understand the proper greeting among village folk, how to till a field, or where to find a pub. But he could conjure power in his fist, address foreign dignitaries in their native language, hopefully detain a renegade mage and protect the innocents who lived in Landsleave from her loosed, uncontrolled powers.

A tall order, but what else had all these years of Magesterium study been for if not to defend the innocent and use the curse of magic to aid humanity?

"Sorry, Yo," Izuku smiled nervously, tapping his heel against the horse's flank to catch up to Yo's steed.

"Just shut up," the older boy rolled his eyes, "We're almost there."

As he said it the next roll of the land passed before them and the sight of long sweeping farmlands greeted them. Izuku gasped and smiled wide at the beautiful golden fields, freckled with wood and brick structures, homes and barns. Yo looked at it like it was nothing, but Izuku marveled. His heart sang of what interesting lives the people here must lead, the routines, the satisfactions of a good crop yield and the devastations of poor years. And all the while they lived in a sea of golden barley and wheat.

Yo glared at Izuku's bright attitude as they passed into the village and trotted past the first few homes. The clear, joyful air, and the brimming sunshine all seemed to sullen with each step further they moved into Landsleave, though. The eyes of the farmers and villagers lingered on them with a suspicious, even volatile haze and Izuku's smile began to fade. In the other villages they had passed through, people were cautious around them and a bit distant, but never so outwardly and pointedly negative.

Izuku's hand slid down to touch the hilt of his staff, secured to his back, finding that his charm with and trust of the villagers was quickly fading. He was glad to be following Yo. The older mage strode through with head-held-high confidence as the rode on a direct path to the home of the offender. Izuku hoped it wasn't far. There was a dark aura overlaying Landsleave and he was ready to distance himself from it as quickly as possible.

The villagers didn't dare directly address them or approach, but their eyes followed them through to the other side of the countless acres, a twenty minute ride on its own. By the time the house came into view, so did the woods that crested Tarlson. It was a long, deep expanse that spread in many ways, according to the many maps Izuku had studied, but it was also the only thing standing between Landsleave and the protection and oversight of the Todoroki Lordship. It made it one of the safest and most profitable of farming towns. All the more reason to rid it of renegade mages.

They brought their horses to a stop at the edge of a barnyard that occupied nearly a full acre of land on its own in front of the quaint farmhouse. All around it were fields of crops, rustling with workers, while the forest lay very close to its back like a wall.

When the farmhands saw the two men on approach they stopped their work and looked on them with the disdain that they had grown familiar with here in Landsleave. But a couple of the men, upon seeing them, dropped their work and dashed headlong back to the house, a frantic pace in their running.

"Do they know why we're here?" Izuku whispered to Yo as they dismounted and took their staffs in hand.

"Of course," Yo pulled a snide grin.

"Then why do they look so unhappy with us," Izuku looked over the workers and then to the men bursting past the door to the house, "Shouldn't they be happy we're coming to remove a threat?"

"Farmers are stupid, kid," Yo twirled the staff as he stepped up to the door, "The witch girl probably played mind games with them. Made them her slaves. I doubt you've ever seen mind magic."

"Hitoshi used to use it a lot," Izuku stepped carefully behind him as Yo's hand lifted and a glyph started to form, "I know about it and I didn't like it…"

"Nice history lesson, but we have work to do."

The glyph burst from his hand and the door rippled and then crumpled under his hand to breach the entry. In the exact same moment a blast that felt as strong as a fireball slammed into both mages, throwing them off of their feet, away from the door.

Izuku coughed on dust and pushed himself onto his elbow as he tried to grasp what had just happened. Yo was holding his face and cursing viciously, using his staff to prop himself back up and face his opponent, now presenting herself in the doorway.

She was not slightly what he expected to see. They had spoken of a renegade mage, a mind bender, someone capable of learning dark arts, or becoming Fallen. But standing in the doorway, open handed and vicious as she was, was just a villager, just a young woman. Though she looked no younger than himself, she was small and soft looking. Her long brown hair seemed recently combed, while a light pink dress, embroidered with daisies, billowed around her feet, like he would have imagined any carefree young girl. She lacked the feral, wildling look of what he expected from an untrained, untempered mage. And that attack had not been an accident either. It was truly the only thing about her that kept his concern about her alive.

The girl stepped confidently out of the house, a severe glare in her large brown eyes as her family chased out after her.

"Ochako don't do this!" an older man pleaded, "Don't fight them, run!"

Yo smirked as he regathered his composure. "Why don't you go ahead and run little girl?" Yo said, patronizing, "Make this fun for me."

Izuku took a defensive stance, readying a dozen spells in his head, half to stop another attack and the others to counter. But Yo was not so patient and calculated. Another glyph opened and this time he slammed it into the ground. Even Izuku struggled to keep his footing with the ripple that shot through the land, cracking the front doorstep and ripping a small split in the ground.

The renegade mage, Ochako, lost her bearing and crashed to the ground as the earth in Yo's control attacked her. Her family were rendered helpless by the same attack, unable to keep their footing as the wood frame of their house splintered at them and the ground rumbled.

The girl cast a quick succession of defensive spells just to keep from being crushed and a few to stop the chaotic earth from harming her family. Izuku couldn't deny that he too was concerned about the innocent people who were in harm's way, but he had to trust Yo, had to hope that he knew what he was doing.

And Yo seemed pretty confident in his actions. He was getting obviously cocky; even Izuku in his inexperience knew that cocky, was sloppy.

Yo looked back to say something smug to Izuku and the boy saw a moment too late to warn him that Ochako had recovered her footing and was on the offense once again.

Responding first and thinking later, Izuku dove at Yo and knocked him clean of large rock, coming straight for his head. Yo was shocked, but Izuku spun back up the very next second and channeled that new power spell Master Shota had taught him. Green lighting burst over his arms and legs and he used the force of it to leap out at the renegade mage.

Her eyes went huge at the approaching attack and a shielding spell barely made it up in time to stop his overpower hand from knocking the wind clean out of her. But he thought fast and used the power in his legs to slam into the ground by her feet. It had nearly as much strength as Yo's original attack and a divet sliced through the earth, crashing into the house once again as frightened shrieks filled the air.

Izuku winced when he saw it hit, guilt flooding his chest at the thought of accidentally harming such a lovely little farmhouse and the innocent people who lived in it. The look Ochako had on her face, scared and panicked as it was, spoke of similar fears.

His hesitance gave her time to act, though and, before he could catch her, the renegade made a sudden retreat. A droplet hit Izuku in the face as she dashed away and he realized the next moment that it was a tear.

"Run, Ochako! Go to the forest!" the older man shouted after her, "He'll protect you!"

Izuku didn't like the sound of that, but Yo was already hot on her heels. He had to follow too. He could think later.

There was something sick in Yo's laugh as he chased the girl down through the smallest of the wheat fields, which sat between the house and the forest. The wall of trees looked darker and more looming than ever now that they were on fast approach and catching up to the girl. There was no escape for her. She wasn't fast enough and even if she was, all that lay on the other side of this forest was Tarlson and the people there wouldn't help her. On a word fromt he Synod the Lord there would send an entire troup after her to aid them. One way or another, she would be subdued.

And for some reason that made Izuku feel sick to his stomach. He didn't realize how soft he was until he saw the fear in her face and felt her tear strike him. All those years of brutal Magesterium training and he still lacked the cold nature of his brethren. Not even the Synod could destroy his warm heart and bright exterior.

Yo's hand was reaching for her when her voice cut the air, echoing into the trees in a broken cry. "Red! Help!"

The next moment she was face first into the dirt, a hand on the back of her head and a knee pressing into her shoulder. Izuku slowed with panting breaths as Yo laughed victoriously.

"Got you," he said, forcing her face into the dirt unnecessarily, "You're going to the Magesterium where you belong, witch!"

Whatever she tried to yell was muffled in dirt and Izuku's skin crawled to watch Yo's cruel behavior. This wasn't how you treated a defeated foe. She had put up a good fight, couldn't Yo respect that? Apparently not. Izuku didn't like to think ill of his own, but Yo was not an honorable person and this journey had done nothing to rectify that opinion.

The thoughts had barely formed in his head when the forest began to rustle. The entire forest. The air itself shook and birds screeched as they took to the air.

"What is-"

Izuku and Yo slowly lifted their eyes to the forest and then above it as the source of the earthly disturbance rose above it with the batting of wings that stretched as long as a house. Its angular head rose and turned with a slit, red eye onto the mages gathered at the forest edge. It's deep, animal voice cut the air with a roar that shook Izuku to the bone. The staff fell from his hand and he stumbled backwards, tripping on his own feet and choked on pure fear.

"Red!" Ochako screamed again, now able to lift her head since Yo had stood to face the red dragon hovering over them.

"Ha!" Yo stepped forward and away from Ochako, "A real dragon! And here I thought this would be boring."

He took an attack stance and Ochako scrambled to her feet. Yo suddenly seemed very unconcerned with her, his eyes on the larger, rarer prize.

"What do you think, kid?" Yo shouted behind him to the still stunned Izuku, "A dragon head would look good over the gates of the Center Magesterium, wouldn't it?"

Frankly Izuku had lost the ability to think outside of a blank, frozen fear. He'd never even seen a real bear and here, his first journey into the world of regular men, he was faced with a fire breathing beast of the air.

Clawed paws landed on the ground in front of Yo and the ridge running up the dragon's back frilled like a cat poised to fight. The sun glinted blindingly off of bright red scales rippling under stacks of muscles and a head that was filled with the sharpest teeth Izuku had ever seen.

One large red paw lifted in a swipe and Yo threw up a protective glyph right away. The claws crashed into it as an angry roar shook the fields. It's maw opened and Izuku expected a burst of fire to follow. Flames did appear, but only a pathetically small gust that might not have toasted a stalk of corn.

It did too little and Yo had no problem casting another attack, pulling a sharp spire from the dirt to stab at it and force it back like a spear. The dragon was only pushed back a moment before attacking viciously again, Yo's counters coming fast and would have been incredible to watch if the entire thing were not paralyzing terrifying.

Ochako had made it to the forest edge and stopped then to look back at the brutal fight taking place between the mage and the red dragon.

"We have to go! Red!" Ochako screamed desperately, catching the dragon's attention.

It was a bad move for them. Looking away for even a moment gave Yo the opportunity he needed to summon a glyph that Izuku recognized as a Lightning Shrike attack. It would be a devastating blast and could knock Yo out completely by casting it he wasn't careful.

It was too dangerous and it scared Izuku enough to instinctively move to stop him. But he wasn't fast enough. And neither was Yo. Apparently the dragon understood what was happening too and struck with viper speed.

Jaws wide open, the dragon lunged at the mage. Yo disappeared behind razor teeth and flared nostrils. The huge mouth bit down on Yo's middle and whipped its head like a rabid animal attacking the first meat it had seen in weeks. Izuku choked on vomit as Yo's body ripped in half , his lower body flying across the field as the rest of the bloody, mangled mess that remained of Yo's body fell from the dragon's teeth.

Blood splattered across onto the dragon's face as it howled into the air, and its forked tongue flailed in the air. It's head swung violently back and forth as a pained yowl left its bloody maw. It's claws pawed at its head and the creature shook all over in clear irritation, it's tail swinging as it stomped craters into the ground.

Izuku could hardly believe he had just seen his companion ripped in half, let alone that the dragon that had killed him was seemingly losing its mind. He could only assume he was about to be crushed or eaten in the rabid mania of the world's most terrifying beast.

The girl at the edge of the woods did not seem scared of it though, and she had her hand out to the creature, eyes wide with worry, calling it to her. But it didn't listen, just continued to thrash around until it finally took to the air and dove back into the forest, shaking the earth when it crashed to the ground once again behind the forest line. Ochako was chasing after it immediately.

And Izuku...was still not moving. Never in his life did he think he would be the one to freeze. And because he did, there were two bloody, fleshy patches of ground before him that were once Yo Shindo. A dragon had done that. A DRAGON!

They were sent here to retrieve a young mage...not fight a damn dragon! Did the Synod know? Did Master Shota or Master Shinji know they were sending the two boys into the mouth of a wild creature?

Izuku needed to run, but that thing had killed his companion and the renegade mage had gotten away. He could explain the failure, certainly, but it wasn't fear of his mentors that finally got him back onto his shaky legs. It wasn't pride that took the staff back into his hands and propelled his feet to carry him after the girl.

Truthfully he had no idea what sent him chasing a renegade mage and dragon into the forest by himself, besides insanity, adrenaline, and wonder.

He had no idea what he was doing or what he was going to do when he caught up to her and every logical thought in his head told him to turn back and ride as fast as he could back to the Center Magesterium. He couldn't do this on his own...but what was the Synod going to do with their resources spread so thin either? If he didn't follow now, he might lose her forever. Some irrational impulse told him he couldn't let that happen, no matter his crippling fear of the skyworthy lizard.

The shadows of trees fell over him and he could hear his blood rushing in his ears. That and the continued thud of massive feet against the earth. He was an absolute fool, but he followed that sound. The girl was running towards it last he saw her so it made sense to go towards it. Not for any self preservation sense, but for finishing this already botched mission.

He heard her voice shouting over the displeased animal noises and the wild stomping, something authoritative, yet concerned in how she spoke.

"You have to calm down!" she said, "I can't help you like this! Red, please!"

The stomping gradually stopped, but there was a dog-like whimper in its place.

That was the same moment Izuku came upon them. He took a cautious position before some brush to view the rough clearing, if it could even be called that. It was an opening from the trees, but it was rocky and overgrown, wild and unkempt. The dragon stood at its center, head still wagging in a pained and irritated fashion, though it had at least stopped thrashing its body about as the girl cautiously approached.

Izuku frantically cycled through his options, trying to figure out what to do. Should he attack them? Yo had tried to fight it and failed in a bloody, maimed disaster, Izuku certainly couldn't do better. That was an entire dragon and he wasn't even a year into being a Synod apprentice!

Follow her, maybe? He wasn't a spy... he didn't even know cloaking spells and only the Upper Synod mages knew the spells to track mages. He blended fairly well with the forest, green hair, dull colored robes...but the girl had a dragon, they could simply fly away.

Was there nothing he could do except run?

"That's good," Ochako said sweetly to the unhappy dragon, hand out in a cautious approach, "Now come down to my level so I can see what's wrong."

The massive red head shook wildly and a forked tongue flicked out towards the girl. The large slit eyes looked watery and the sounds it made were gut wrenching.

"I can't understand you like this," Ochako sounded almost like a chiding mother, "I need you to be able to talk to me. Tell me what the problem is."

One more shake of the dragon's head and suddenly its body starting to shiver and ripple. No, not shiver...shrink? It's scales folded back and its wings shrunk into it as the entire regal form of the fire breathing beast shifted and morphed into...a boy?

Every priority and duty for his mission dropped to the back of Izuku's mind as his studious, scientific nature took over and he barely held back an awed gasp. A shapeshifter! He'd never seen one before and he'd never expected to see a man who could turn into a dragon of all creatures! But here one was before his very eyes. One moment a dragon, the next a stark naked, red haired boy, teary eyed and holding his mouth in a fit as he fell on his ass, all of that threatening, terrifying presence of his magnitude, disappearing on pitiful sob and large watery eyes.

Ochako was kneeling in front of him immediately, neither surprised nor embarrassed that the boy was entirely nude, as if it was entirely normal, which it probably was for a shapeshifter. Clothes did not shift with the body from what he understood of the magic.

The mage girl forced his hands away from his mouth, looking over his flustered, pained face with a doctoring eye.

"What'd he do, Red?" she held his hands away with one hand while she pried open his mouth with her thumb, showing that his teeth were still jagged razors like they had been in his dragon form.

"My mouth burns!" his voice came out childish, not so deep as it had been before, no hair raising roar escaping that tongue, "Why did you let me eat a mage? It hurts and I'm going to die!"

Ochako shushed him, rolling her eyes at his dramatic reaction, fighting him to hold still so she could see the damage. "It's just poisoned blood, not a spell. You'll be fine, you aren't going to die. Let me see your tongue," she ordered and he opened his mouth.

It was far smaller than when he was a dragon, but it was still forked and not entirely human. Ochako held a hand over his mouth and a light blue glyph formed.

"Hold still," she demanded, "I have to be quick before the other one comes after us."

The once-dragon bounced impatiently in his seat until the glyph activated and a soothing light shone on his mouth. A toxic looking mist lifting from his mouth, like a venomous cloud was being purged from him. Izuku's eyes widened on it. He'd studied healing magic as all Magesterium students did, but he'd never seen one that sucked poison. He wished he had his notebook with him. It was amazing and he wanted to know more.

The boy she called, Red, calmed instantly as the mist left him and drifted away into the air. When her hand pulled away, he panted relief and rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"Thanks," he said, "I knew I shouldn't have bitten him, but I thought he was going to kill me! Or he might've killed you and I was going to be alone and I don't know what I'd do if you-"

"Red, this isn't the time," Ochako grabbed his face, shaking him out of his frantic rambling, "Either shift back or grab your pants, we have to go."

Izuku was stunned, not just on the incredible magic he had witnessed. This wasn't any image of a renegade mage he had ever imagined. She had a gentle firmness, and even though she had been rough trying to hold the boy still, there was sweetness in how she handled him. And the dragon boy wasn't what he expected either. He was just a kid really, maybe a couple years younger than him, scared and worried for the people he cared about.

Red scampered up to his feet and crouched by a spired rock, reaching underneath and pulling out a bundle of fabric. In a hurry put his breaches and clothes on while Ochako stood back up on unsteady feet and swept a cautious eye out over their surroundings.

Izuku had been too fascinated with the dragon boy to notice that she was back on the lookout and didn't duck in time before her shout caught him.

"He's here!" she yelled and a nearby rock flew at Izuku with terrifying speed.

His shield glyph went up just in time, but it was absolutely, nerve-wrackingly close.

"Wait, stop!" he shouted, not knowing why this was his first recourse rather than counter-attacking. The dragon was in a diminished form now, he had a chance to take him out and grab the girl...but that felt so wrong all of the sudden. The longer he watched them, the less he wanted to enter an altercation with them.

"Red, run!" Ochako shouted and raised her hand in preparation for another spell.

"Seriously, hold on!" Izuku jumped out of the bushes, hands and staff raised over his head, "I won't try to hurt you, just don't attack me."

Red crowded her side, fully dressed now, and baring his teeth, defensively.

"I'm just an apprentice, I'm not half as dangerous as Yo," Izuku said, hoping he could convince them he was not enough of a threat to just kill without question, "You don't need to be afraid of me. I'm pretty sure the dragon could eat me in one bite if he wanted."

The red haired boy stuck out his pronged tongue in disgust. "Ew, no! No more mages!"

"Apprentice or not you came here to take me away from my family and I'm not going," Ochako held her spell at the ready, shaking a bit through her body. He recognized it. The healing spell had taken more out of her than she was showing. It didn't mean her next attack couldn't kill him, just that she may not still be standing afterwards.

"I won't try to take you anywhere, let's just all try to calm down," Izuku said tentatively.

Was that true? He didn't even know. He didn't really have a plan here. He knew he couldn't let her get away and nothing else seemed like it work. So his first recourse was to...talk it out?

"You're lying," the girl frowned.

Izuku slowly lowered his staff and set it on the ground, a soft, encouraging smile on his lips, compelled to try and get some trust from the girl instead. His conscience was a powerful thing and he knew what evil looked like. There was a room in all Magesteriums where minor demons could be conjured on demand for students to practice fighting techniques. He'd seen every kind of horror come from that well. In the years among mages, he had seen the good and the bad in men, women, elf and human and a bad mage was worse than any rotten layman. Even a few of the kids he grew up with had Fallen and within the very walls of his home he had seen necromancy and possession. There was no way to be a mage and not witness the worst that the world had to offer. It was what soured so many of his kind, that and the overall negative aura the Masters beat down on them; a practice as important as their training when considering the power they wielded and the corrupt of its existence.

But Izuku didn't see evil in this girl. And, despite what he had done to Yo, he didn't see evil in the dragon boy either. If anything those eyes were terribly innocent. To treat them like they were evil felt wrong. To treat her like Yo had done, felt awful. He didn't doubt that the best place for her was the Magesterium, untrained in magic was a nightmare waiting to happen, but he didn't believe that dragging her there kicking and screaming and dripping in the blood of her dragon friend was how to do it.

It made him wonder if anyone had ever just tried to talk to the mages labeled "renegade" rather than just treating them like deserters and criminals, before. Maybe they would be reasonable. They were really just lost mages who didn't know any better, weren't they? Just poor cursed souls without guidance.

"I don't want anyone to get hurt," Izuku said, feeling his confidence grow, feeling that this was the correct path to take, "Yo shouldn't have been so aggressive. We should have just come and talked to you. I'm sorry about that. I don't want to fight."

The girl and the dragon boy looked to each other suspiciously and Red's grit teeth softened some. Ochako held a more aggressive stare and after seeing that she was not so easily taken in, he mimicked her expression, as though without her he wouldn't know how to act.

"If you don't want to fight then why are you here?" she asked.

"I…" Izuku had to think about it, "I don't really know. I just know I don't want to hurt you, I don't want to fight and that I've never seen magic like that before. I mean, he turned into a dragon and you retracted poison with magic! I was terrified out there and I can't believe he Yo, but I understand that you were protecting yourselves...you don't seem to be evil and neither does your friend, so I want to talk and try to understand."

"Understand what?" Ochako scoffed, "That I can be a functional mage without the Synod breathing down my neck every second of my miserable life? Or that I've haven't already ripped your head off for coming here to kill me or drag me off to some indoctrination prison!"

"We didn't come here to hurt you!"

"Didn't you?" Ochako challenged, "Then what are you here for? To pat me on the head and tell me what a good job I'm doing? I don't think so."

Izuku felt like this wasn't going very well towards convincing her to come with him peacefully and he had to center himself, keep from getting angry at her ignorant accusations.

"We wouldn't have killed you," he said, "That wasn't our assignment. The Synod has to keep track of mages so we were sent to bring you to the Center Magesterium, not a prison."

"Same thing," the girl's hand got a little higher, threateningly.

Izuku held up his hands stiffly, scared that she might actually incinerate him with a fireball, "Hey, seriously, I'm not going to do anything, okay? Please, can we just talk?"

He stepped completely away from his staff, hands reaching to the sky as hard as he could. He was sure he looked ridiculous, but they needed to understand he wasn't a threat to them.

"Can we?" Red asked Ochako big eyes wide on her. She returned his stare narrowly and then frowned at Izuku.

"Grab his staff," she told the boy, "And maybe we'll talk."

Red beamed a big smile at her and then got very serious again, taking cautious steps towards the mage's weapon, big red eyes on Izuku the whole time as he crouched down and lifted it into his strong hands like it was nothing more than a toothpick, despite being taller than him and made of thick, solid birch.

Red rushed back to her side and turned a forced glare to Izuku. He kept glancing at Ochako while he did and adjusted his face every few moments to try and hold her same level of intensity. Izuku would have chuckled at it, if he wasn't terrified for his life.

"Alright," Ochako lowered her hand and took the staff. She paused when it fell into her hand and at first she sagged under the weight and her own weakened body. But could see a glint in her eye as she straightened up and composed herself, looking at the staff with this look of...thrill? Amazement? Either way she quelled it fast and held the staff like she truly had no idea what she was doing with it, which didn't make her any less dangerous. It was a weapon after all. It amplified spells and if she casted anything it would be more powerful than she was expecting or could likely handle in her state. A misplaced spell might set the entire forest ablaze and turn where Izuku stood into a crater.

"Thank you," Izuku sighed, not exactly relieved yet, but getting there.

"Sit down," she ordered, the commands hard to take seriously with how high and girlish her voice was, "I don't want any funny business."

Izuku nodded and slowly did as he was told, falling into a cross legged seat on the ground, hands still up. And as soon as he did, Red dropped down to sit too, but a sharp look from Ochako got him back on his feet as soon as he sat. The dragon boy seemed a bit oblivious, worse than the adolescent mages at the Magesterium and they weren't even allowed weekly visits to the village like the older students. Socially inept didn't begin to cover this.

Ochako nervously ran her nails along the staff and Red stood very close, like proximity was protection. In this form he wasn't much bigger than her though, so it didn't seem like much of a threat. Though that didn't change what he could turn into at a moment's notice.

The girl tilted the staff towards him and he got very worried that she might accidentally fire off a spell without realizing it, but he held his ground and stayed still.

"Alright then, apprentice, let's talk."


	4. Hard Choices

"Stations! Get on the damn wall, you fucking bastards! You wanna see another dawn, get your sorry asses to the fortifications!"

Captain Katsuki's loud, obnoxiously volatile voice had one proper use and this was it. There was no better tongue to demand attention and order in this or any other army and when the darkness of the ether crept in with shuffling reanimated corpses on approach, his was the only voice the scores of soldiers wanted to hear. It might as well have been the voice of God to the the men facing yet another night of horror.

The darkness was unnatural as it had been the last time. Even though it was night, no stars broke through, the moon lost to a blanket of weighted aura. The magic that inhabited Shoto allowed him to see aspects of the ether that a layman may not and his miscolored eyes could detail the ebbing pulse of the ether breaching the air. It followed the Archdemon wherever it went and grew with its conquest. The entire world would be like this, feel like this, if Dawnfell crumbled to the onslaught, if the nation didn't fend them, if the Summoner was not put to a stop.

There was reason for the tangible fear that wafted over the encampment. How could hope not flicker out like a candle in the wind when the armies of the ether approached in a force as strong as the last battle while their own numbers had been diminished to a fraction of what they had started as? The men preparing ballistas and trebuchets looked to have already pissed themselves at the sight of their impending enemy.

Shoto had spent his entire life in touch with the ether and killing minor demons in the training rooms of the Magesterium. The weight of the ether was not new to him, the sight of demons was familiar, but this was nothing like any fight he'd faced before. They thought the last battle was to be the end all, the deciding factor to the outcome of this war, but Nana had changed that tide at the last moment. There was no such savior, this time. She was locked away in a cage and the other mages were all dead. Shoto was all there was. The only mage left in Dawnfell's army.

He turned his eyes back over the rushing encampment, over the men coming to terms with their fates, of the lieutenants demanding order and formations, of the Lord Commander directing their strategy at the far end of the encampment.

There was a shout that rang above the others, something horrible and fearful. Panicked.

A body broke from the tight formation that the Captain had created and the soldier stumbled as he ran. The others looked with wide eyes as the man tripped in his retreating, scrambling back to his feet in despairing fear to run for his life.

The captain took long strides, not rushing, oddly calm as his sword drew into his hand to handle the disturbance in his ranks.

Shoto couldn't help flinching when the sword came down on the fitfully crying soldier, one downward thrust into the back of his neck ending him in a mercifully quick death. Blood splattered up onto Katsuki's armor as he cleanly whipped his sword free and wordlessly went back to his task of organizing the fear stricken troops, now tenser and more solid than ever after seeing what became of those that tried to run.

It was cold, something that disgusted Shoto more than he could ever admit, but it was necessary. The consequences had to be immediate or else the army itself would devolve into panic and disorder. But it chilled Shoto's insides to see how effortlessly, how calmly Katsuki had just killed one of his own men. It was a calculated strength he didn't want to challenge.

The line of once dead humans and elves grew ever closer, striding over the strewn expanse of corpses left from the previous battle, still decaying into the sullied earth. The drained husks crumbled easily under their feet and Shoto centered himself for what he had to do. He couldn't overextend himself like he had last time, he was no good to anyone passed out from magic overuse when no other mage was on standby to take over. But he had to be ready to give this his all. There was no time after this to try again. They held the line today or they lost.

In a few moments, Katsuki appeared at his side, looking out at the fast approaching army. They were in range now and the Captain hit the mage's shoulder roughly.

"Do it," he ordered.

No more stalling, no more contemplating. It had to begin.

Shoto turned back to the inner wall and opened his arms, pulling glyphs into the air. With sweeping motions, orange light spread out and condensed over the artillery, catching fire to each projectile in leaping red flames. Every archer's arrow blazed to light in the same fire and Shoto had to shake himself from the dazed from how widely his spell had stretched. He much it had already taken out of him.

The fire would spread rapidly upon impact and hopefully hinder the march of their enemy. But he had to quickly prepare to control it as well, to not let it spread to the fortification. And he needed to stay standing to do that.

Shoto stumbled as he looked back to the battlefield, but the Captain grabbed him by the back of the collar and jerked him up straight, roughly.

"Stay on your feet, mage," he snapped, "You're all we've got."

That, of all things that had left his mouth the last few days, didn't actually sound resentful. Worrisome maybe, perhaps defeated. But there was no use for the Captain to be pissed that he was the only mage they had left anymore. It was now just a sad fact that they had to live with. A week wasn't enough time for reinforcements to reach them and Katsuki's shit attitude over the unfairness and how overly fucked they were had finally taken a back seat. He was just like that, it seemed, irrational in a lull, composed in the face of gruesome, unfair death.

Shoto leaned on his staff and squared his shoulders, building his strength for his next spell while Katsuki's hand lifted. The archers pulled back on their bowstrings and the artillery groaned on its tense ropes.

"Fire!" he shouted, throwing his arm forward.

Red flames filled the sky, lighting the ebbing flow of the ether in Shoto's eyes, before impacting the hordes of undead in a burst of mounting fire. Dying shrieks rolled over the battlefield as the magic that moved the corpses shed from them, catching countless undead in the consuming flames, forcing the minor demons that possessed them back to the ether without a body to ground them.

There was a victorious shout from the army at Shoto's back as the fire spread and undead fell to it, a small hope dousing their fear, but only for a moment. As Shoto expected, the quickly spreading fire dashed towards the encampment.

His hands shook as he lifted his staff overhead. Shoto closed his eyes, just trying to stay standing as his energy flowed into the next spell. With a sharp breath he released the chilling burst.

A massive wall of ice shot up before their fortifications, jutting out across the entire face of their barricade moments before the fire hit it. Steam lifted as the ice kept the flames at bay.

Joyful chattering continued to pass around the soldiers and Katsuki threw a biting glare over to them. "Don't get comfortable!" he shouted, "That'll only slow them down! Be at the ready!"

Order slowly returned as the lieutenants reinforced his command.

Short of breath, Shoto dropped into a crouch, holding the wall in front of him for support. He knew he hadn't saved the day or anything, but it was awful to be reminded that all of that effort would only serve to hinder the attackers for a short time, that the most he could do was so damn little.

"I hope that's not all you've got," Katsuki crossed his arms.

Shoto shook his head at the ground. "We're fucked, Captain."

"Should have pegged you for a quitter," Katsuki scoffed, "Mage blood is tainted, they say. I guess it makes all of you cowardly too."

Were this any other day Shoto might have argued with him, his fellow mages had stood and fought and died like Katsuki's own men had in the last battle. But this was the middle of a hot warzone in the few stalled moments before the undead crashed against their defenses. The comment only served to tighten his chest with annoyance and pull Shoto back standing straight, ready to prove him wrong.

"Life's never been fair," Shoto adjusted his footing, stabilizing himself, readying for the onslaught, "It makes sense I'd spend my last day alive stuck with you."

Cracks formed up the icewall and the clanking and shuffling of thousands of undead soldiers were close enough to feel reverberating against the barricade. It was still hot beyond the wall, but the heat was subsiding as the ice countered the flames. The wall it created couldn't be seen over, but the hacking and clashing of armament on the ice told them what was happening, said they were breaking through one way or another.

A wry grin spread over the Captain's face as he drew his sword. "You lucky bastard."

Everything that happened next was hard to follow. Ice crumbled and fell, crushing undead, but barely stalling their push. Half decayed bodies crashed into the walls and the gates groaned. Men stood to hold it closed, but that too fell.

The tight troop formations held the bottleneck, but the rush of the enemy was almost too quick to counter. Katsuki ran to join his men below and keep their position solid, but the rest of the scrappy beasts had redirected their attack to climb the wood fortifications. The archers fired volley after volley down at them, but their numbers were greater than the arrows at their disposal.

Undead flooded the ramparts and Katsuki was forced to stay and hold them back. Shoto cut down countless in quick blasts, every ounce of training in his repertoire, coming to full use. He wasn't even thinking, he had no time to do so. His hands and staff cut the air in fluid movements, the night filled with the colored light of glyphs and spells, knocking, crushing, burning, and ripping the possessed corpses.

"Hold the wall!" Katsuki shouted as the archers fell back and swordsmen replaced them.

If the bulk of their forces could detain the bottleneck they stood a small chance. But if enough scaled the walls to flank them, their one advantage would be gone.

Close combat magic didn't take nearly as much out of Shoto as the large spells he'd cast earlier, but he was losing his focus, his precision. It wasn't long before he made his first mistake. A misguided ice shard knocked the sword from Katsuki's hand, missing the fast encroaching target making a direct dash at Shoto and disarming the Captain at once.

He didn't have time to shout at Shoto for his ineptitude, because the undead soldier Shoto had missed was already crashing into the mage. Suddenly he was falling and shoving away the vile clawing hands of what was once a man and now a monster.

Shoto collided with the ground below in a pained groan. In a haze he scrambled to get back to his feet, but the wind and clarity were knocked out of him and that same undead soldier leapt at him, more skeletal husk now that flesh. Shoto's staff was out of his hand and it took all of his panicked strength to hold off the possessed creature.

Before he could even think of a spell to destroy it, an unexpected swipe or razor sharp claws slashed down across Shoto's face, ripping streaks of flesh from his forehead to his chin. He screamed as heat burst across his features and his hands slipped.

A boot collided with the monster just before its teeth could rip out Shoto's jugular. It rolled across the ground with the force on the kick and its attacker leapt of Shoto to finish it off.

As soon as Shoto saw what was happening it was at first surprising to see that his savior was Katsuki, sword back in hand, severing the rotten head from the undead's decayed shoulder. A quick glance up to the ramparts showed what had brought Katsuki down to ground below. They had been overrun, the last of the soldiers even then falling to their tearing hands and rusted blades.

The undead were spilling over into their ranks and the Captain was pulling back what remained of his men on the wall to the shield formation at their backs.

"Form up! Form up!" Katsuki was shouting at the battalion setting their shields and angling spears as the few survivors of the wall slipped between small openings.

The Captain grabbed Shoto the fabric of his tunic as he ran past him, dragging him to his feet and forcing him through the shieldwall as his troops created an opening for them. It closed at their backs just ast the horde struck the human wall.

Shoto fell back to his hands and knees, panting with tears in his eyes at the pain bursting across his face and the weakness shaking through his body. Katsuki's attention was back to his troops, directing the spearman, solidifying their line when a man would fall. But the Captain filled every opening fast, keeping the line tight and each man in determined preparation to replace anybody that fell.

But Shoto couldn't bring himself to be awed or impressed by his precision and clear headed commanding. Everything the Captain was doing and everything Shoto had done was fruitless. The ramparts had fallen, the gate had been breached and the Archdemon's aura had already overwhelmed the encampment completely, though he seemed to be the only one to feel it.

It was just a matter of time now. They had no advantages left.

Shoto held his face and choked on the weight in his chest. It was hopeless. They had failed and Dawnfell would be the first to suffer for it followed by the entire known world.

With a shuddering breath Shoto let his hand fall away from the gashes in his face, as his flesh started to go numb. The hand hovered in front of his face, dripping in thickly coated blood. It turned Shoto's stomach to think what state his face was in, to see how much he had bled already.

Then what he'd been forcing himself not to think about for the last week hit him like a collapsing wall of bricks. He'd told himself that her innocence and her actions wouldn't be up to him to judge, that a new Master would arrive and take this out of his hands, assure him that this threat could be neutralized by the Synod's power. That the hunt for the Summoner would bear fruit and the Archdemon would fall as it had before. That the Dawnfelden army could hold this fortification until then. That the encampment would stand as long as the world needed it to.

But the mages hadn't come. The reinforcements were days away. The nearest village was a day's walk away and every available force from Dawnfell was already battling for their lives with them at this moment. There was not enough time to make a proper stand after the last battle. There was nothing coming to turn the tide...and if they failed this blight would creep over the scores of innocent behind the frontlines.

The armies of the dead had to be stopped here. And they had to be stopped now.

He couldn't do it. The Dawnfelden army couldn't

But she could.

Shoto shot to his feet, wobbly for a moment, but leaned on his staff to stabilize himself. It was wrong and possibly stupid, but there was nothing left to lose. Even if it was damnable, he wouldn't sit idly while the world fell and he could do something to stop it.

He got barely a step before Katsuki's voice cut across him like a blade.

"Hold your ground, mage, we still need you here!"

Shoto shook his head at the Captain's command, pausing only a moment to look back at the vicious red eyes. "She's our only hope, Captain. I have to do this."

Running as fast as his unsteady feet could carry him, he took off into the encampment while Katsuki's rage filled shout followed after.

"Shoto!"

Everything was out of his perspective except his need to find Nana. He didn't want to die today. Didn't want the Dawnfelden army to meet their horrid fate. Didn't want everything to end by today's defeat.

There were no guards at the prison, every able bodied man at the forefront now, leaving the hazy eyed mage alone in her imprisonment, chained in the mud as he had left her that afternoon. He didn't even think to look for a key, weakened as he was, he didn't need one for something so simple.

Hissing on the buzz of pain throbbing across his face, he lifted his hand to the cage door and twisted a glyph, breaking the lock with the scraping sound of metal. Adrenaline kept him going into the body of the cell as he dropped beside the mage and burst a quick wakening spell into her face.

"Wha-!"

Nana jerked away and blinked wildly before seeing Shoto, bloody and drained, kneeling in the mud in front of her.

"What are you-?"

Shoto opened another spell of breaking in his hand at the chains that held her to the post and shook with a choked sob in his throat as he forced out the strength to break it. It shattered and Nana lunged forward, catching Shoto before he fell face first into the muck, bleeding, hurt, and exhausted by the strain of magic.

"You have to...they're-"

"Don't try to talk yet," Nana assured him, taking the bottom of his face in hand and turning up the bloody mess of his squinted eye and gouged cheek towards her, "Just hold still."

It was easy enough to do as she said since Shoto could barely move.

A dirt covered hand swiped beneath his chin, catching a handful of blood as Nana took a deep breath. The blood turned to light and magic in her hand before she slammed the open palm into his chest, shocking him with the hard impact. The air ripped clean from his lungs as a magic more powerful than he'd ever felt coursed through every fiber of his body. Every nerve was alive, every sense alert, and in a split second he forgot his pain and weariness.

He gasped, gripping her arms for dear life as his full clarity returned.

"That won't heal you entirely, but it'll get you back on your feet," Nana pulled him up to stand, holding onto him tightly, "What's going on out there?"

Shoto shook his head, fixing her wide, desperate eyes. "The undead breached our defenses. There's too many. They're endless. You have to do something!"

Nana nodded, understanding immediately, "I'll-"

"I told you to hold your damn ground!"

Shoto's gut dropped, spinning on the drawn sword and ferocious expression of the Captain standing in front of the tattered cell door.

"What are you doing here, Captain?" Shoto was astonished that Katsuki of all people would have chased him down at a time like this.

"The Lord Commander saw you run," The viciousness in Katsuki's voice was unmatched, "He knew what you were doing...he sent me to stop you."

"We don't have time for this!" Shoto yelled at him, wired on the energy Nana had given him, confidence soaring, "If any of us want to make it out of this hellhole alive, we need her!"

Katsuki set his footing, sword raised in an attack position as he drew a shield in front of him.

"I was right to call you a coward," Katsuki spat, "Step away from the blood mage!"

"You aren't going to stop us!" Shoto slammed his foot on the ground, jarring a magic shard into the air at the Captain, attacking without thinking.

"Shoto, no!" Nana shouted too late.

The shard came at him with the speed of a bolt of lightning, but the Captain reacted deftly, shield catching and absorbing the attack. Ripples of light rolled over the object and the attack dissipated into nothing like snow on hot coals.

Shoto stumbled back in shock. How had he done that?

Katsuki glared over the shield and swung his sword in preparation. "You think we would accept mages from the Synod without having a means to defend ourselves against you?"

Enchanted armaments. How had Shoto never considered that? He hadn't really considered much about the occupation of battle mages during his time at the Magesterium. He'd never wanted nor planned to be here. To do this. He'd never thought about how the armies they fought alongside viewed his kind. How the laymen mistrusted them.

"We don't need to fight," Nana insisted, hands up towards Katsuki, "I mean no harm to your soldiers, but there's an enemy force out there that will destroy everything if we don't do something!"

"Like I'd listen to a Blood Mage!" Katsuki scoffed, "I don't even trust the regular ones." He eyed Shoto directly.

"But you need them, you need us," Nana stepped towards him, firmly, "You always have. That's why the Synod sent you a cohort, because you cannot fight the effects of the ether without mages."

"Your magic will consume every living thing and taint the earth with your corruption if I let you live!"

"The earth is already corrupted by the ether and every life here is already lost if I'm not allowed to stop the Archdemon! Can't you see that?"

Stubbornness unmatched by anything Shoto had ever seen battled in front of his eyes; the entrenched mistrust of the military commander versus the vibrant spirit of the blood mage. Katsuki stood in the way of Nana putting an end to this needless slaughter already so heavy with casualties. Their dying voices were already shaking the air with the clashing of sword, shield, and arrow on flesh and armor and Shoto's frustration was beyond what his temper could handle. The pressure in his chest was growing to the point of bursting and, without a conscious decision, magic began to swirl around him in a way he had never experienced, in a form he had never held in his control before.

His staff drew off of the ground and into his hand as the world coated over in a red haze. That's when he saw Nana and Katsuki's equally shocked expressions turned on him.

"Shoto, what are you-?"

It was beyond what he could hold onto, more than he'd ever handled and his grasp of the building, shaking power in his hands slipped. The magic burst from him in an earth shaking wave, the wooden bars of the prison shattering around him, knocking Katsuki and Nana to the ground. It felt like crushing a brittle piece of paper in his hand, effortless and terrifying.

His rage switched to fear the moment the magic had taken its effect. He dropped everything, every willful connection to the magic in his blood, and panted in fearful shock over what he'd done. He prayed that he hadn't just done that, that this was just another piece of a wretched dream.

But his two clear eyes looked down to his clean hands, any trace of the blood he had shed, now gone. He touched his face. The gashes were still deep, but the bleeding had stopped, wounds sealed, eye functioning, and face clean.

Shoto shook his head in ragged terror. Blood magic. He'd used it without even thinking. Without even trying to.

Suddenly Nana was at his side, grabbing him by the arms, shaking him to turn his eyes to hers.

"Shoto, stay with me," she demanded, "I know you want to freak out, but I need you to get some control. There's no time!"

Shoto tried over and over to get something other than stuttering out, but couldn't. And he'd have stayed like that too, if not for the jarring sight of brambling corpses scurrying towards them.

The Captain slowly pushed himself back to his feet, regaining his senses and seeing what they now saw.

"Fuck."

Everything went still for a single moment as they all became aware of the encampment. The screams had stopped, the clamor of a fight had ended and what remained was demonic chittering and marching feet. Not a single human voice remained to beg for mercy, to cry out in terror or death. The ether hung heavier than ever and Shoto could see it like a living, physical mass in the sky. Everything from where they stood to the gates was overrun...nothing alive remained.

"We have to run, now!" Nana snapped, her commanding voice stronger than even Katsuki's.

But both boys were stuck in shock, watching the approaching horde.

Nana was not waiting on them to come to terms with the overwhelming defeat and Shoto was shoved forward as Nana forced him to move his feet and start running. As soon as he did, he didn't dare to stop, the shock dissipating into the rushing need for survival.

A glance behind him showed Nana dragging the Captain from his stupor as she had done to Shoto and making him run after the mage as she took up the rear.

They ran up through the encampment, past the Commander's tent, the empty training yards, and the deathly quiet grounds of what was once their temporary home. If either of them even thought of stopping for a moment, Nana gave them a kick in the pants either verbally or with an actual strike. They were running for their very lives and any other dispute was meaningless in the face of survival and escape.

As soon as the encampment was behind them, Nana stopped and turned on it, on the fortification that had stood as the first defense, the front lines of the entire country, now cloaked in death with the armies of the ether scrambling after them. It seemed unwise to stop now that they'd made it through, but before Shoto could demand for her to keep going she opened her hands towards the camp and he caught himself on what he saw.

The dark, thrumming blackness of the ether gave way to a pulsing, bright red. Blood, light, and power, drew up from the encampment and converged on Nana, much like it had done when she stood against the Archdemon. Red light burst from her eyes again, her body hazed in the color of blood as the very power and strength of her magic wafted around her.

"No!" Katsuki screamed and lunged towards her.

Shoto physically tackled the Captain, using his full force to knock him to the ground; he couldn't allow him to stop her, she was their only hope.

In a struggle of limbs, Shoto fought to keep him back, but he was smaller and not physically as powerful as the well trained soldier. An elbow with his face, right where he'd been half gored by an undead. And as he in a sob at the sting of pain shooting through his face, Katsuki threw the mage from him. Shoto's back hit the ground, continuing to fight him as the magic in Nana's hands took on new life.

Screaming convictions of death, Katsuki slammed his knee into Shoto's chest, punching him full in the face as the mage lifted a hand to throw out a defensive spell. Shoto cursed and grabbed his nose, swinging his other hand at Katsuki in a base, uncoordinated reaction to the pain he kept inflicting on his face.

Katsuki was reaching for his dropped sword, while he fended back Shoto, intent to kill in his determined eyes. Prepared to end whoever he needed to to stop the blood mage now drawing power from every human body that lay in the encampment below.

But Katsuki didn't get his sword, didn't get to kill Shoto, because Nana's magic erupted from her in an earth shattering burst over the encampment.

Both men froze in the midst of their struggle, eyes turned towards the camp; pain, anger, and desperation lost to shock and awe.

The very earth split before Nana's hands as tendrils of violent, destructive magic stretched out along the camp in harsh, burning, consuming power. The undead crumbled under the onslaught as did every structure, every post and armament. Every remnant of the thousands of lives that had resided there were broken and destroyed with the endless armies of undead that decomposed on the touch of blood magic.

Katsuki's hand was stayed, mouth open, eyes wide, lost to anything but the overwhelming sight that lay before them. The complete destruction of what was once their temporary home. The blood magic he had been unable to stop. The reality and weight of true defeat.

The split in the earth grew wider and wider, separating the encampment from Dawnfell, separating the world from the armies of the ether by fracturing the ground itself.

In the middle of the split rose a shimmering, red wall, a barrier that reached to the sky and out across the land endlessly. It hummed with magic and crackled with life as it took hold and stood like a powerful fortification while Nana fell to her knees. The power dispersed around her, absorbed into the wall she had created between them and the armies of ether.

Shoto took Katsuki's shock to his advantage and kicked the Captain off of him, rushing to Nana's side as the Captain continued to stare in horror at what he had just seen. He pulled her back to her feet, but she was unstable, taking shaky breaths, drained by the energy she had given to that spell.

"What have you done?" The Captain's voice was a whisper. Shoto had never heard him sound like that. Never heard him speak so quietly or with that much weight put on so few syllables.

He and Nana looked back at him, her arm around his shoulder as he supported her weak body. They saw a tear roll through the dirt, matted on his cheek, his expression that of a man who was lost, who had just had his entire life ripped from his hands. The red of the destructive magic reflected in his ruby eyes.

Nana spoke in a tired voice, ignoring the pain that hung over what she had done, "This will only slow them down. I put a patch on an open wound; a barrier that will hold no more than a month if the Summoner doesn't tear it down before that."

Katsuki's pained eyes and bared teeth slowly turned from the sea of destruction and back up to her.

Her breath left her lungs in a tremor. "I bought us time."


	5. The Ladies of the Court

"May I present, Lady Fuyumi Todoroki of the Lordship of Tarlson!"

"You may."

The court herald froze, narrowing his eyes in confusion. He looked between the girl standing beside him and her accompanying entourage and then back to the King and his assembly.

"I….I just did…" the herald tilted his head at the smirk on the king's face and the snickering of his daughter and nephew, standing beside his throne.

The queen turned an unamused, narrow glare at them and they lot of them straightened up quickly.

The Yagis were not what was usually expected of royalty. King Toshinori Yagi was never seen without a brimming grin or a boisterous laugh. And his jokes often came ill-timed. It was obvious that Togata was his nephew, more than that Momo was his daughter. In her poised presentation of herself, and, truly, in her overall appearance, she took after her mother Nemuri, a far more straightforward and serious woman than the man she was married to. In the privacy of their family life she appreciated the humor shared between the members of their family, but in the throne room she was all business and demanded the same of them all.

Momo stifled any thought of laughter at a single look from her mother, but Togata shriveled at the glare. He hadn't lived under that gaze his whole life like Momo had and no matter how big, strong, and intelligent Togata was, he was unbelievably intimidated by the queen. Anyone in their right mind would be, but the young man didn't need to be. Queen Nemuri often said how much she liked him, but never to his face. Most of her compliments were not direct, though her insults usually were.

She was a stark difference to the king. Toshinori Yagi wore his feelings on his sleeves and never believed there was a moment that humor was not appropriate. He got along famously with everyone he met and gave Togata the command of his armies after less than a year of him living there. They were too much alike for the king not to take him under his wing vivaciously and quickly.

But Momo, she sat somewhere in the middle. How could she not? Her father's humor was infectious and his good nature inspired her to be a loving person. But her mother's severity kept her sharp and on her toes. They both put heavy importance on her learning every matter of state to one day take over, but the king's concern for his daughter kept it at an imbalance. Not allowing her into the war council and keeping the darker affairs away from her. She'd complained to her mother before, thinking that she would take her side, see that a future ruler needed to know everything, to experience what it was like to make those world changing decisions. But even she took Toshinori's side, saying that she did not believe Momo mature enough at only nineteen to understand what was going on in the world outside of the castle walls.

She was right in a sense. She didn't know much of the cold, harsh world. Because they tried their damndest to never let her see it, or feel it. It made her frustration endless, but in the midst of war she had no leeway to be selfish. If she couldn't be of help, the best thing she could do was stay out of the way. She had her pride, but she knew her true value to the nation and she wouldn't contradict her father...not too much anyway.

While the herald stuttered his ways through a recovery, the young lady that he was attempting to introduce, hesitantly stepped forward with a tall, straight backed man at her side, armed and official. She curtsied and he bowed.

Momo saw the smile on her father's face widen and felt him shift to rise, but the queen's hand reached over with a look that could have stopped a stampede. She knew he was going to do something embarrassing before he did and as his queen she was fulfilling her most important duty of making him keep face, even when he didn't want to. At first he rolled his eyes, but after a second his face softened and he winked at her instead, sitting back tall in his throne, assuming the regal pose he was supposed to possess naturally.

King Toshinori's voice carried loud and far as he gave his greeting to their guests.

"Welcome to the Capitol, Lady Fuyumi. We're very happy to have you here and to have you as a part of our family."

Fuyumi bowed her head gratefully. "Thank you, your majesty. You have already been a very gracious host."

With a narrowed gaze, Momo eyed the girl very closely, a frown tilting her lip. Her words sounded very empty and her eyes were distant. A suspicious feeling crept up her neck and she looked beside her at Togata. He had been assessing the Todoroki girl himself, but caught her gaze quickly, offering only a shrug to Momo's cynical stare.

The man who accompanied Lady Fuyumi stepped forward, his head crowned with dark hair and his fit, military body stood rigid, strong. The way he held himself and the decoration on his armory showed he was more than a soldier, a leader. While the girl's presence was a bit timid and hardly present, the man filled the space he occupied with energy. Like Togata, but without the goofy smiles.

"My king," he said, helmet tucked under his arm, "I am Commander Tenya Iida of the Lordship of Tarlson. Lord Enji sent me to escort his daughter to your home and to provide you with reports on the war effort. I do not wish to sully this joyful moment with talk of war, but this is of the utmost urgency and I humbly ask that we may speak immediately."

That got Togata's attention more than the sight of the pretty young woman. He looked to the king, eyes telling that he wanted to hear this report more than he wanted this frivolity to continue. He was never one to complain about fun or celebrations, but little meant more to him than his duties as the Commander to the King's Armies. He could have been entirely taken with Fuyumi from the start and the notion of a war effort report would have snatched his attention nonetheless.

Luckily, the king seemed equally interested in the topic and he stood, adopting a serious expression in response to Commander Tenya's words.

"We will be holding the betrothal ceremony tomorrow, so there is no need to prolong these introductions more than necessary," he addressed Lady Fuyumi, "You've been traveling a long time. Settle in and rest while we discuss this unpleasant business. Commander, you may follow us to give your report."

"Thank you," Fuyumi curtsied again.

Togata immediately gestured for the Tarlson Commander to follow him, giving only a brief glance and nod to Fuyumi as he passed. The queen stood as the king and his advisors moved with him to the war room.

Momo got a small notion that perhaps in the bustle she could slip in with them, hear this report from the attractive, dark haired man herself. But her mother caught her by the arm with an unimpressed frown.

"I want to hear what he has to say," Momo demanded firmly, knowing it would get her knowhere.

"That's not important right now," her mother insisted, voice smooth as silk and sharp as steel. She gestured out to Lady Todoroki as servants moved to her side to introduce themselves and show her to her quarters. "Accompany the girl, see that she gets what she needs and rests easy tonight."

Momo huffed, crossing her arms. So far she wasn't impressed with anything she had seen of the demure girl and spending the evening playing handmaiden to her seemed far less important than knowing the number of troops guarding the borderlands or which fortifications needed reinforcements.

"The servants can do that," Momo looked up to Nemuri.

The queen had that trademark severity in her eyes. "She will be living here for the time being and likely for some time after they are wed, at least until your father offers Togata a lordship or his father demands him return home."

"I understand," Momo hated to admit that she saw what her mother was getting at, "I have to learn to live with her now to ease things later."

"No," Nemuri twisted her brow, looking to the girl with cool narrowness, "Never trust a Todoroki, Momo. Not that one. Not any one. It's important that you learn about her and more importantly that you watch her closely."

Momo hadn't taken an instant liking to the girl or anything, but to hear such harsh suspicion from her mother over someone, seemingly so timid was unsettling.

"Then why make Togata marry her if their family is so untrustworthy?"

"Marriage at our status is about alliances and heirs, darling," Nemuri brushed a hair behind Momo's ear fondly, "You marry your children to the people you don't get along with, so that you /can/ get along with them. When you share blood in a descendant it eases things. Not everyone is as lucky as me." She winked at her daughter, a tiny bit of the fun loving person she hid well at court, glimpsing through.

Momo wasn't so foolish to think that royalty or noblemen married for anything other than consolidation of power and she knew it would be no different for her. But her parents loved each other deeply and somewhere in the recesses of Momo's mind she had always hoped she would get that; a political marriage, turned into a happy family. And she wanted that for Togata too. More than for herself. She would be queen after all was said and done and whatever sad sack she had to sport around as a husband would be secondary to that all important role of leadership. But Togata deserved better. Deserved better than to be miserably wed to some untrustworthy family. It pricked her with anger that her father would do such a thing to his loveable nephew, but she was practical enough to understand the meaning behind it.

"Now go," Nemuri gently pushed Momo to follow the Lady and the servants who were in the midst of leaving.

Momo forced out a smile and dashed to catch up to them just as they left the throne room.

"Lady Fuyumi!" Momo shouted, stopping them. The girl turned a still sullen expression to Momo and curtsied again.

"Princess Momo," she greeted her.

"No need for all that," Momo waved it off, truly hating when formality followed her outside of court. She was much like her father in that way. "I'm going to accompany you to your room, make sure you settle in comfortably."

Fuyumi stood straight and looked uncertainly at the ground before nodding and pushing out a smile as forced as Momo's own.

"Thank you, I appreciate the company."

Momo fell in step with her as a servant led them up to the room they had prepared for Fuyumi. Her belongings had been brought there when she first arrived, but it would only be a temporary living space until the wedding.

They made idle chat about her journey and the decor of the castle and the view of the courtyard from one of the windows, but it didn't get much more intimate than that. The girl behaved very distractedly and Momo's suspicions only grew at it, her mother's words rattling in her ears.

When they got to the room, Momo remained while the servants showed her where to find everything. Once they had finished doing so, they offered to bring her something to eat, but she refused, asking for only privacy and her bed. The servants heeded her quickly and left.

Momo was more than happy to be excused in that context and moved to follow them, but Fuyumi's voice caught her at the door.

"Your highness," she said, now sitting on the edge of the bed, eyes directed to her hands, "What...sort of man is he?"

Momo furrowed her brow, "Who? Togata?"

Fuyumi nodded, not looking at her.

There was a fond chuckle in Momo's throat to consider the question, leaning a shoulder against the door instead of opening it. "I think it may be hard to summarize, but overall he's a good man."

"I suppose he seems like it," she said, "But it's hard to tell at first meetings, if this could even be called that. All I know is what I've been told, which is very little, and a brief meeting some five years ago, which I barely remember. And considering that he commands armies and that we're at war, I fear I won't even have a chance to know him at all before we're married."

Momo hummed to herself, surprised to find that there was something very genuine in her tone, in the way she spoke of her fears. It was oddly vulnerable and were Momo anyone but the future queen, she too would be afraid of these same things. Whoever married Momo would be subordinate in status to her, but for Fuyumi and many other women of royal station they held no such power over themselves in these marriages. Not knowing who Togata was, Fuyumi did perhaps have a good reason to be fearful.

"My mother always says 'you can get to know your husband when the children are grown'," Momo chuckled and Fuyumi looked up at her with a tense expression. "She tells that to flighty girls who want a fairytale romance, because the world just isn't like that and life and marriage are simply what you make of it with the cards you're dealt. We have duties as the ruling class and in our youth we're bound to accomplish them. When we're old and crotchety and spent of everything we can give society, then we're allowed to have our fun."

Fuyumi's face dropped sadly and her shoulders sagged forward. Momo immediately realized how harsh her words sounded and she sauntered over to Fuyumi's side, sitting cautiously beside her. She didn't regret being honest, but Momo had too sympathetic a nature not to see the distress on the girl's face and want to ease it at least a little.

"I don't mean it to sound bad," Momo said, placing a hand on her shoulder, "It's just some annoying thing my mother says, because she's callous and cold with frivolous people. For most royals, that's the fate we're left with. A few people get very lucky. My parents were very lucky. And, my lady, you are too."

Fuyumi looked Momo in the eye, two gray gems meeting her dark pair with something confused and slightly hopeful.

Momo smiled wide, "My cousin is my best friend in this entire world. We grew up as siblings these last ten years and I can't imagine my life without him. I've never met a person more loving, fun, or honorable in my life and anyone who knows him is lucky."

A delicate smile pulled on the pale features of the Lady of Tarlson, her white hair, flecked with red, pushed behind her ear by a slender finger.

Momo stood, her suspicions finding a bit of ease in seeing vulnerability from the girl. It didn't mean Momo trusted her or thought any better of her. She was still a Todoroki. She was still someone Togata would have to spend his entire life with and she had a long way to go to prove that she was worthy of him.

"I hold my cousin in an untouchable place, Lady Fuyumi," Momo's voice dropped to a chilly register, "I have never once met a person fit to hold his affection, let alone his hand in marriage. And I still haven't."

They locked eyes again and Fuyumi stiffened under the dark gaze, not unlike the queen's. Which was befitting, because she felt oddly like her mother in that moment, confident, powerful, and calculated in her words. It was a good feeling. She understood why her mother kept up such a presence in court, despite being a very loving wife and mother behind closed doors.

Momo moved back to the door, pausing only a moment as she opened it to offer one last word. Something that the softer side of her pushed out, something spurred by the touch of sympathy Fuyumi had drawn out of her.

"I look forward to you proving me wrong, Lady Fuyumi. Sleep well."

"Are you going to tell me?"

Togata raised his eyebrows at the perceptive gaze of his cousin, scouring him like a puzzle to be solved.

"Tell you what?" he feigned ignorance and kept walking.

"What the Commander from Tarlson said," Momo kept pace with him, pushing aside the fluffed front of her gown with an aggravated yank. She hated this dress particularly; it had too much going on, especially at the front of the skirt. But when stately affairs needed to be attended the servants always laid out this one. She suspected it was her mother's doing that there was never another option around when the time came.

All in all she looked beautiful, which was seemingly the point, though she wasn't sure who she was trying to impress. The kingdom was hers whether she was shaped like an hourglass or had the face of a pig. The queen put great importance on appearance, though, and Momo simply had no choice but to wear the awful thing.

Togata had dressed up nicely too, but he at least seemed comfortable. It was more important that he look presentable today than her. But ever since she had caught him on the walkway to the banquet hall there had been something twisted in his expression. Without an opportunity to speak to him or anyone else that had swept off to the war council last night and herself unable to spy on the occasion, she had to assume there was something said in that meeting that had put him in this displeased mood. Though being upset or fitful for Togata was equal to being pleasant and endearing for anyone else. Only Momo had the trained eye to see that there was something wrong.

"Commander Tenya just gave a report on Tarlson's strength and war preparation," Togata shrugged, "Nothing all that exciting."

Momo rolled her eyes, unconvinced. "A man does not go across the country to meet the king and interrupt introductions of a royal family betrothal for a minor report. I saw that look on father's face. It's that same one you have now. Something is wrong and I want to know what."

Togata chewed his cheek, eyes scraping the ground.

"You know I'm under orders from the king to keep all war room meetings completely confidential, don't you?" he said lightly, "I could be drawn and quartered for saying anything about it to you."

A heartfelt laugh cracked the tension in the air and Momo hooked her arm with his.

"Can you even imagine father giving you consequences for anything?" Momo continued to chuckle, "He's more likely to flog me than scold you. He wanted to have a son like you."

"Don't say things like that, Momo," Togata took on a very serious tone, squeezing the hand against his arm tight, "No son in the world could have replaced you."

She elbowed him, giving him a look that told him she had been joking. "Such a sap. I know I'm the best thing that ever happened to him. Now will you please stop trying to distract me from my question and tell me what the hell is going on in Tarlson?"

Togata sighed and came to a halt. They were near the hall now and would soon be surrounded by merriment and frivolity. The musicians had already begun playing and the smell of freshly cooked meats drifted through the air with the chattering of courtly voices.

He took both her shoulders in hand and turned her to face him, his smile smaller than normal.

"Don't repeat any of this, got it?"

Momo nodded profusely.

Togata spoke in a whisper, "There have been encounters with minor demons at Tarlson's border. Somehow they are infecting past the frontlines and they have been for the last week. Dawnfell is holding, but the ether's touch is manifesting beyond it. We don't know how they made it past the defenses. There have been attacks sporadically placed all the way to Tarlson from just past Dawnfell. The things they've reported have been devastating. They've already called for reinforcements from the Synod and are now looking to us to stop it from spreading further."

Momo swallowed hard. That had been far from the news she'd expected and the look on Togata's face said there was something else.

"Toga?"

He turned his lip in a sad smile, running his hands down her arms. "I'm leaving next week. We're marching to Wingsleeve to set defenses."

Momo pulled her arms around her stomach, brow twisted, gut sinking. "What? For how long?"

Togata shrugged and shook his head. "We don't know. But they need the Royal Armies presence out there. Unfortunately, this also moves the timetable up for all this…" he gave a pointed look to the banquet hall's doors.

"You don't mean-?"

"Yeah," he chuckled, "They pushed the wedding up to the day after tomorrow. The Todorokis don't even have time to make the journey to attend. But we're in dire times and frankly they want the union solidified before anything terrible happens to me."

Momo scoffed. "I thought only we were cynical enough to plan out the politics around your death."

"Well I'm not planning on dying," he laughed, "But they're just being sensible. And it'll probably be better this way." There was a sympathetic glint in the way he watched the door. "That poor girl seems terribly uncomfortable. It would be better for her to get adjusted to life in the castle without also adjusting to married life at the same time. We can get the vows out of the way, see if we can crank out an heir in three days and then she's free for the foreseeable future. Sounds like a winner of a situation to me."

It was hard not to laugh a little at his optimistic nature and the adorably kind gesture behind it. It sounded like a joke, but Momo could see the real, tangible sympathy beneath it. He felt bad for Fuyumi. Which seemed idiotic. As though he didn't realize how much of a catch he was, how perfectly happy he could make any woman.

"Well I don't really care what the good lady of Tarlson thinks," Momo took on a playful tone, "We all have our sorry lots in life and we have to live with them. But for my part, I'm going to miss you and, dammit Togata, you better not die."

Togata turned and put her hand back on his arm, chuckling as they took long strides to the door of the banquet hall. Two servants swept the doors in and the cousins entered the raucous bramble of nobles and members of court. There were greetings and congratulations thrown about to the soon to be groom and polite bows and curtsies to the princess.

As deplorable as it was, they did their duty. They spoke to nobles and lords and ladies and accepted dances and pleasantries until they were finally allowed to take their places at the head table. That was the first she saw of Fuyumi since she had left her the previous evening. Her long hair had a few delicate braids in it, weaving bits of red into the cascading white. Her white gown sat lightly on her slender frame, but she held herself tall. It felt forced, but Momo was at least impressed with her for trying.

Fuyumi and Togata were seated at the center of the table, an honor usually reserved for the king and queen, but given to the pair on the occasion of their official betrothal celebration. The king sat on their right and Momo and her mother sat on their left.

Through all of the speeches and ceremony, Momo watched her cousin closely. Small whispers passed between Fuyumi and Togata, but the girl remained as subtle as ever. Togata didn't seem unhappy, though, and that was all that really mattered.

After the meal there was the betrothal ceremony. It made Momo sick just to think she would one day have to do this ugly pageantry. But Togata seemed perfectly happy about it and Fuyumi didn't hesitate to do as she was asked. The officiator bound their hands together and scattered bits of ash over the knot, before speaking the usual words. It came and went quickly and as soon as the man had finished, the knot was untied and Fuyumi walked back to her seat before she could be approached.

In the exact same breath Momo was on her feet and moving around to the open part of the hall as those who wished to dance and mingle filled it. She hadn't seen Togata's face, but she assumed he would be upset at such an action from Fuyumi, to walk away from him so briskly after that.

But before she could make it to his already crowded side, she unwittingly collided with Commander Tenya. She almost hit the floor with the force in which he ran into her and the panic on his face when he caught her was practically comical.

"Your highness, I'm so sorry, I didn't see-"

"Relax, it's fine," Momo straightened and fixed her skirt, feeling her cheeks warm a little as his hand pulled away from her arm and he went very rigid.

"I should have watched where I was going, I was just in a rush to…"

"Commander it's perfectly fine, I don't look hurt to you, do I?" she laughed, "I'm not a delicate flower like your Lady…" Momo glanced back at the girl seated at the table listening to the queen speak to her. A shiver went up the princess's spine to imagine what her mother was saying to that already shaken girl, but took comfort in knowing it wasn't her under that harsh gaze.

"With all due respect," the Commander's brow tightened, "Lady Fuyumi is not delicate or weak, as you have insinuated. If anything she has shown immense bravery and strength to travel hundreds of miles through a country in the turmoil of war to marry and man she does not know and live in a strange home. To leave behind her brother and her mother when tensions are so high and amend herself to this uncertain future without complaint shows nothing but strength of character."

Momo's eyebrows went up. Not at the rather brash defense, but that the passionate way he stood up for Lady Fuyumi was...attractive? Momo supposed that was what it was. There was a distinctly uncomfortable feeling squirming up inside of her that she didn't quite know how else to explain and it pushed out a little smile on her painted lips.

But Commander Tenya seemed to catch himself after he'd spoken and rigidly bowed again, face contorted. "I apologize, your highness, I should not have spoken to you like that. I simply don't want you to think badly of Lady Fuyumi when she has done nothing to earn your contempt."

The smile on Momo's face held and she found herself more interested in this man than she had been before. With a look back over to Togata, she found that he was still swarmed by well wishers and his face was lit up like normal. He could be internalizing his frustration at Fuyumi leaving his side as soon as the ceremony was finished, but she was also aware that he didn't expect much from his bride, that he didn't expect her to be happy about marrying him. She determined that he would be fine for now and that she'd have little chance to speak to him while he was being swarmed by nobles anyway.

"Would you like to dance, Commander?"

Commander Tenya's head shot up and the confusion that painted his face was comedic. He looked warily at the lighthearted smile on her face and hesitantly presented his hand.

"Uh...of course," he darted his eyes past her a few times, slightly nervous looks directed to the head table, to Fuyumi. But Momo took his hand quickly, pulling his attention away and unceremoniously leading him to the dancefloor.

The etiquette of the thing was lost as she held fast to his large hand - strong, lightly calloused from handling a sword for many year - and pulled him into the throng of other dancers, forgoing the usually, bow and curtsy that preceded a dance with a new partner and pulled him right into the motions. He looked practically frazzled by the lack of decorum and he watched the little glares that passed around them for being so uncouth in how they swung onto the dancefloor, sweeping into position and practically taking over the space in moments.

Commander Tenya frowned at the faces as he quickly caught his footing, fixing his hand position to stay high on her back, barely touching her.

"They're looking at us like we've done something wrong," Tenya chewed his cheek.

"Oh, we have," Momo nodded, "I'm ignoring about ten rules right now, firstly by even being the one to ask you to dance. But my father could have their heads for saying a single cross word about it, so they'll keep quiet. My mother may be the only person we have to worry about."

Tenya shook his head. "I've been all across this country and others, your highness, and I have never met royalty that… I apologize I should not say such things."

"For the love of all that is holy, please stop apologizing," Momo groaned, "I'm too much like my father to care about sparing feelings and walking on eggshells. If anything I like that you speak your mind. Too few of these jesters do." She swept a glare over the annoyed faces of the nobles with judgment in their eyes and returned to Tenya with a smug look.

"You don't fear that they will lose respect for your authority?" Tenya asked, pivoting into a turn.

Momo laughed and drew a little closer, feeling how uncomfortable it made him, but not caring. "My birthright is Yagi, but I am also a Kayama by blood."

"The Kayama family of Canticus?" Tenya's eyes widened.

Momo nodded. "I've never been to Canticus and since I have about ten cousins ahead of me in line for that throne I may never set foot on those rocky grounds. But the Kayama blood is as strong as my father's. No one disrespects a Kayama and lives to tell about it. I may not have been brought up in their brutal culture, but my mother knows it well and anyone who knows her knows that she is not to be trifled with."

"I would never dare," Tenya shook his head excessively, "I've been to Canticus before… I know the dangers of challenging its people. I lost a few good men to duels spawned from unimportant disputes. Their severity is unmatched. And I mean this in a complimentary way, but I can see the spirit of those people in the queen. And, speaking to you now, perhaps I see some of it in you. Only a foolish man would cross you." He pushed out a smile, somewhat forced, but it seemed as though he was really trying and Momo found that she liked that.

"But, if I may be so bold, what I don't understand is the union," the Commander said thoughtfully, "I'm certain there were many political advantages to the king and queen's marriage, but they are so very different. The queen is what I would expect of a Canticus ruler, everything ordered and principled, but the king, and please do not take this as a slight, though he is an excellent strategist and decision maker, does not behave like a king."

Momo stepped into a spin, not waiting for him to take charge and twirl her himself, but demanding the lead for a moment, before turning back into his hands. She got a bubbling feeling in her stomach, something exciting about speaking to the Tarlson Commander in the midst of this dance and tripping him up with unexpected actions.

"I can explain that if you like," Momo offered.

"You have my full attention," Tenya gave her leave to proceed.

"My father is the kindest man to ever grace the throne," she smiled, "Only because he was never meant to have it. My grandfather was severe, the Conqueror of the Dracos, and every one of his sons was like him, except his youngest who didn't have the heart for conquest and decided to live his life among the people. He planned to disavow his right to the throne and take up a life of servitude. He wanted to devote his life to simply doing good deeds and spreading joy."

For the first time since she had met him, Commander Tenya's face softened with interest, throwing a glance to the king whose laughter boomed across the banquet hall even as they spoke.

"When you are fifth in line for the throne you never expect to be the one to sit on it," Momo said a little solemnly, unsure why she felt so compelled to make this man understand her and her family. "But my grandfather, my two uncles, and their two sons were ambitious. They took their conquest far. Too far. In the midst of their campaign to expel the scourge of the dragons in the south another Summoner appeared and an Archdemon rose. They were journeying home to aid in defenses, but it got to them first and in one fell swoop nearly an entire royal lineage was wiped from the earth. Against his wishes, my father was brought from his life of service to fight a war and rule a country without warning or time to mourn. And he rose to it like a royal should. He took charge and since the people loved him so much they flocked to him with their support. He married my mother to align himself with Canticus and use their resources and soldiers to maintain his kingdom while demons swarmed inland. He was there when the Magestrate exercised the Archdemon to the ether and has treated his kingdom with a gentle hand ever since."

The song came to an end and they went still, not moving or dropping their hands as Momo held his eye contact.

"No matter how unconventional my father or Togata or I am, nothing will change the fact that my father took care of his country when it never should have been his responsibility to do so. These people are alive because of his decisions and self sacrifice. They will turn up their noses at his uncouth behavior, they will glare at me for behaving childishly, but they will never raise a finger against our family. Do you know why that is?"

Tenya let his hands fall from her back and released her completely. "Because they respect your father."

Momo shook her head, "No. Because they're terrified of my mother."

The Commander's head tilted, a bit confused at the wry chuckle she gave him.

"I'm joking," she rolled her eyes, "Of course it's because they respect him. But don't underestimate how much they fear her too. She's a frightening woman and I plan to be like her when I'm queen."

He smiled at the confident raise of Momo's chin. "I feel certain you will command both love and fear from your people, your highness."

Momo found herself laughing softly and grinning up at the man. She opened her mouth to give a witty response, truthfully a flirtatious response, but caught herself like a whip had been cracked over her head to realize what she was doing. When she realized how she was speaking to him. And how she was feeling while talking to him.

Unacceptable behavior. She had higher standards for herself than this. Screw anyone else's opinions, it was her own that was being slighted right now.

Momo stepped back, her face falling and his turning to concern to see the rapid change in her mood.

She gave a polite curtsy to signify the end of their conversation. "I believe you were trying to attend to Lady Fuyumi when I interrupted you," her tone turned formal, level, political, "I won't keep you any longer, Commander."

Tenya bowed and stuttered through a quick, "Your highness", brow tight with concerned confusion, before being lost to the crowd, returning to the task Momo has interrupted him from.

The room suddenly felt very tight, small, and stifling. The air was thick and every delightful scent of sweets and seared meats were now sickening. A few nobles were already moving her way to speak to her, but she couldn't be in this room anymore, not when it was getting so hard to breathe.

Brushing aside everything and everyone in her way, Momo rushed out of the hall through one of the balcony doors. The long terrace was empty and the midday breeze was blowing, delicately crisp and refreshing. She shut the door behind her and sucked in the clean air, untainted by perfumes and revelry.

For a good moment she absorbed the feeling and relaxed into it and then just as quickly as she had dashed from the room she started to berate herself.

What was wrong with her? Every day you she struggled to be taken seriously and treated like the ruler, the leader that was expected of her and then she goes and acts like a flirtatious young girl giggling over the first attractive man she sees! It was a bad look and a dangerous game to let even flippant feelings enter. The court could eat crow, but if the king and queen saw her acting like that they would only restrict her more. If her father saw her flirting with a Tarlson Commander he would likely rush to secure a marriage for her as well. And her mother would call her immature and remind her again how unprepared she was for the throne.

She leaned on the balcony rail and let her head fall into her hands as she groaned annoyance at herself. Her head was amix in distractions and swirling anxieties.

Truthfully, she wasn't ready. Not because they had not trained her efficiently enough or that she wasn't mature enough, but because she did not know her own country personally beyond the Capitol. Of course they visited other lordships and even a few other countries, but quick political jaunts were not enough to learn the world she was supposed to rule. She thought often of how her father lived as a commoner for many years in his youth, how well he knew the world he ruled from a personal standpoint, how attune to his people he was. And Momo couldn't imagine being ready to command a nation without experiencing some of that herself. Her mother didn't think it necessary; she hadn't needed it to be strong and well rounded, so why should Momo? And her father feared only and constantly for her safety so she was never allowed to leave his protection.

And Momo was a good princess, a good daughter. She stayed when they told her to stay and studied what they wished her to. Even if she snuck and interrogated to learn the things they tried to hide from her.

But right now she felt immensely trapped. And maybe that was just some minor immaturity, some little prickle inside of her chest that was annoyed that she had to quickly stifle the first little crush she had had since she was a kid. But the feeling of knowing she required more than what she had been given to be prepared for a queenship was not new. Just stronger right now than usual.

Momo heard the balcony door open and she straightened fast, putting on her neutral expression like a habit, before seeing that it was Togata. His head was tilted at her in a concerned smile and she let her expression fall to her true feelings, knowing she didn't have to hide them with him.

"Are you okay, Mo?"

She shrugged, rolling her eyes. "Are you?"

He mimicked the action back at her and chuckled, moving to her side to lean his back against the railing. "I'm fine actually. I think you're far more up in arms about this marriage than I am."

Momo sighed and leaned into his side, letting her head hit his shoulder as they both watched the bustling crowd beyond the glass doors.

"I'm envious of you, you know that?" she said, "Not the whole arranged marriage thing, frankly I pity you being attached to that dull girl for the rest of your life."

Togata nudged her with his elbow. "Be nice, she doesn't seem so bad. But why be envious of me? You're going to be queen. Unless you die before I do, I'm really not anybody."

"Sounds wonderful," Momo chuckled, "When you're a nobody you can leave and no one will care. Do you think I could quickly fake my death? You could be the new next in line and I'll take a vacation."

Togata laughed heartily. It sounded like her father and she again struggled to believe that he wasn't actually the man's son.

"You're only young for so long, Momo," Togata threw an arm around her shoulder, "Before you know it you'll have nothing but political problems, marriage offers, and wars to manage. Believe me, the reality is pretty bleak and it's nothing to rush towards."

"I'm not anxious to take my father's position," Momo shook her head, "And I'm not in a hurry to be tied down like you. But mother and father can be so stifling sometimes. I feel like I've been studying for my entire life and know absolutely nothing. Books and lessons can only teach you so much. I want to be a part of a war council, to go work a day in a field, or settle a dispute, or levy a tax of some sort. I hate that my job right now is looking pretty, reading my books, and entertaining dignitaries."

"Again," Togata tilted his head back and forth, lips pulled in, "Doesn't sound so bad. But I think I understand. You want to do more. I'm sure it's not easy watching me get a military command and make decisions during wartime, while you aren't even allowed in the councilroom. But I'm older than you and this is what the King brought me here to do, raised me to do, really. Your responsibilities are very different and he's still in the midst of raising you to do them."

"You're not very helpful, you know that?" Momo crossed her arms and pulled away from him, "I'm not stupid. I know. I just want to vent sometimes."

A fist lightly bumped her shoulder and Togata grinned at her with a wink. "Not in the middle of a party, though! Come on, I thought we were celebrating me today."

Momo groaned with a laugh and pushed away from the railing. She grabbed his wrist and tugged it.

"Fine, but only because you're leaving soon."

With a victorious smirk, he leapt past her with gusto, suddenly dragging her along with him instead, back through the glass doors and into the bustling banquet hall.

Whatever her inner turmoil, it was still his day and he deserved her to be happy and present for it. They had less than a week left together and if she could do nothing else, she could keep face to make the time worthwhile to them both.


	6. Tempest Storm

A/N: So life is not conducive to me being able to actively write throughout the week, but my goal is to get out at least one chapter per week! I hope I'm able to do more, but it relies a lot on my work not killing my spirit which it does constantly. Thank you all for your patience! For those who are reading and enjoying, God bless you! It's very exciting to write this and I love that you're enjoying it! ~

"I'm not scared of you."

Izuku looked Ochako up and down, keeping a skeptical eyebrow raise off of his face while watching her cheeks flush and palms sweat in her awkward hold of his staff, meant to be threatening towards him.

"I told you I'm not a threat to you," Izuku repeated diplomatically "I want to know more about you! Your friend can turn into a dragon and your healing magic is incredible! Why wouldn't I want to talk?"

Ochako glanced to Red and looked back with narrowed eyes, obviously uncertain.

"It's actually the other way around," Red interjected.

"Red shush," Ochako snapped, "we have to be careful what we tell him. He's a Synod mage. Their kind aren't trustworthy."

"So you have something against structure and salvation?" Izuku asked, more indignant than he intended.

"I have something against being ripped from my family as a child for something I can't control," Ochako bit harshly, stilling Izuku in his overpowering need to correct her misguided ways. There was something very deep and passionate in her words that caught him off guard. Not so much like a corrupted fiend out seeking power and to shirk laws and order, but of a young girl simply scared.

"It's not meant to be pleasant," Izuku said sullenly, "of course that part is painful, but this is bigger than us. It's about the common good as well as our own good. We're damned souls. We're tainted by the ether from birth. Through the Synod we have a chance of redemption. Through it we cultivate that power into something good. And unchecked mages bring hardship and disaster to their families. It's safer for them not to know us."

"No disaster ever came to my home until you showed up," Ochako ground her heel, angling the staff.

Izuku tensed, feeling he might have made a bad move being so honest. But nothing shot from his staff to kill him and Ochako didn't come at him. Not because she didn't want to, but because Red moved out in front of her between them, right up to Izuku, and crouched down to his eye level.

It wasn't obvious what his intention was, but Izuku was extremely wary. What his powerful jaws had done to Yo played over in his mind the closer he got and Izuku leaned away cautiously. But when those big red eyes met his greens and they were sympathetically slanted in a curious head tilt..

"They made you leave your family?"

Izuku was a little thrown by the question, but he stumbled through an answer as soon as he recovered.

"Um...sort of," Izuku raised an eyebrow, "my family followed the law and gave me to the Synod when I was a toddler after I used magic for the first time. No one had to force them."

A sad smile pulled up the dragon boy's face. "I don't know my family either. Does it make you sad?"

Izuku studied the boyish, innocent face, a face that had bitten a man in half moments ago and now blinked some strange sort of empathy at him.

"Not really…" Izuku glances to Ochako, who had turned more curious than angry now, "we make new families at the Magesterium. It's hard to miss someone you don't remember."

Red nodded and shot to his feet, moving over to Ochako's side. "I made a new family too."

It was hard not to smile at him, but Ochako wasn't so charmed.

"Don't try to bond with him, Red," Ochako said almost pleading, "Synod mages will never understand people like me and especially not someone like you."

"Try me," Izuku snagged her attention with his upbeat voice and genuine grin. "I've never seen a Synod mages and renegades just talk and listen to each other before. Maybe it wouldn't hurt, right?"

Ochako glared, "It won't change why you came here if I tell you about myself, just like being ripped from your family as a child doesn't make you less of a threat now. And it doesn't change what you'll do if we let you leave here."

The girl shifted nervously, something determined, yet upset in his soft features. The staff went into both of her hands and she jutted the dangerous end out at Izuku to his ultimate fearful disapproval.

"Ochako!" Red's eyes went wide.

"Wait, wait!" Izuku's still raised arms waved in front of his grimacing face, "You don't have to kill me!"

Izuku knew it had been stupid to give them the power in this situation, knew it was stupid to trust a renegade mage not to take the most brutal course of action at any given time… but he'd really hoped he'd been wrong. The girl seemed scared and he was hoping that it meant she could be appealed to, reasoned with. It hurt his pride to see how wrong he was, but in the end his curiosity was insatiable and the overall appeal of learning how she'd become so magically proficient and where her friend had learned to turn into a dragon drew him in.

He was the Cat and Ochako was seconds from being Curiosity itself.

"I do," she swallowed, stepping forward, "It's nothing personal...you seem like a nice guy, but we have to protect ourselves."

Red was grabbing her by the arm and forcing her to a stop, shaking his head. "Come on, he doesn't seem so bad, why would he surrender if he was going to hurt us?" he reasoned, "I can protect us."

"Against the entire Synod?" Ochako frowned at him, "Red, you're tough, but you aren't that tough. It's him or us."

"This is really unnecessary," Izuku looked between them, eyes pleading most with the nice dragon boy who seemed to want him to live, "I seriously won't do anything to hurt you. I won't call the Synod here and even if I did, no one would come. There's a war going on out there if you hadn't noticed. Why else do you think they sent a couple apprentices to find you? They don't have Masters to spare."

He saw Red shiver as his nose turned up into the breeze. Ochako watched the red haired boy closely.

"Is that what that smell is?" he frowned, "The air is clogged with the ether. It's been like that for a while and it gets worse all the time."

"You don't know about the war?" Izuku gasped.

Ochako grit her teeth. "I know about the war, I've been watching troops huddle around Tarlson for weeks and there was an entire armada marching East just days ago. But that doesn't change that the Synod could still send more powerful mages after us."

"You knew about the fighting and didn't tell me?" Red was the shocked one now. Ochako pursed her lips, like she could feel the question on his lips before he asked it.

"You're too curious, Red," Ochako lightened her hold on the staff to cup the side of the boy's face in her hand, "If I told you, you would have run off after the army just to see what would happen and then you would have ended up in a fight with demon. That's how you get killed."

Red stiffened his jaw and his eyes dropped, arms folding over his chest. "I wouldn't have died."

Ochako appealed to the heavens and dropped her hand, "It doesn't matter. We have to do what we have to do. Just like we always have. Even if they didn't come for me, they'll come after you. They'll hunt you for sport. That's what they do."

Red's mouth pouted as his eyes fell. His shoulder slouched as he held himself close and finally nodded.

Panic rushed through Izuku. The dragon boy wasn't going to try to defend him anymore. He was on his own and Ochako seemed determined to end his life.

But even as Ochako aimed the staff back to him and Izuku's mind reeled over a solution, a spell that could stop her, the air got thick and an otherworldly smell came on the strong breeze that gusted through the forestation. Red's nose tilted to the air, eyes wide. Ochako didn't react beyond confusion at the sudden change in weather, but Izuku felt it immediately. He knew it well. That sense, that scent. It came from the battle circle in the Magesterium every day. But this didn't feel small and minute like those had. This was large...it had the fresh scent of a storm, edged with corruption.

"Ochako…" Red's voice was tilted to uncertain and she hesitated, looking above as the sky darkened with clouds.

"What's happening?" Ochako asked and then turned accusing eyes to Izuku.

Izuku's caution was to the wind, his hands fell and he spun to his feet, arms open, eyes searching the woods and sky.

"Hey you, wait-!"

Ochako was halfway through her shout when a quick spell jerked the staff clean from her hands, pulling it into Izuku's. It fell into his palm perfectly and his stance turned defensively to their surroundings, paying little mind to the girl anymore.

"I'd run if I were you," Izuku shouted over the winds that were steadily growing.

"No!" Ochako snapped, planting her feet, as Red palmed her arm, "What have you done?"

Izuku turned an intense stare to her, no more diplomacy or good spirits to be found. "Don't you feel that?"

"Ether," Red hissed, brow tightening, and vest already sliding off of his shoulders.

Izuku nodded. "Demons."

Ochako paled and she turned her threateningly raised hand from Izuku to the forest.

"D-Demons?" Ochako swallowed, "How do you know?"

The woods near them shook, the ground rumbling under their feet. Izuku's heart was in his throat and his arms were shaking, something told him this was not going to be just another quick circle bout. But with an even less experienced mage behind him, something in him told him to stand his ground and defend. No matter how many times he had to ask her not to kill him, he didn't want to see either of them hurt. That's not why he was here.

A glance back showed the fascinating and unsettling sight of Red, stripped again, midway through shifting. His body expanded, pulled out of itself in a strangely grotesque way, but in moments maroon wings stretched out to the sky and fangs as big as Izuku's arms protruded from a head larger than a man. This was the first dragon Izuku had even seen, but he was wowed. He'd seen minor demons and Fallen Mages, but he'd never seen something quite like the magnificent creature, so unlike the boy he'd seen a moment ago. Not like a cheery, big eyed kid, but an intimidating force of nature.

Red roared, slit eye scraping the horizon as his massive nostrils took in the strong scent of the ether stinging the air, placing himself with earth shaking footfalls in front of Ochako protectively, facing the direction of the disruption.

He and Izuku met eyes and his fear of the beast was gone instantly, unspoken they both knew the real threat was before them, not beside them.

"Apprentice, what's going on?" Ochako shouted, hand on a massive scaled leg, watching their hackles rise.

Two more shakes of the earth and the trees in front of them ripped wide open with gale force. A mass moved with it larger as the Red or any living thing he'd ever seen. It's body was storm clouds and abyss and its voice crashed over the clearing as thunder.

Izuku felt his legs lock up and every hair on his body stood on end. A Tempest Demon.

There wasn't a moment to waste. Izuku threw a shielding spell as large as he could make it, catching a miniature tornado right before it swept them away. But it held for only a moment before storm clouds had overcome the clearing and rain that cut the air like a whip splintered the ground about their feet. Shards struck Red's scales with little effect but to annoy him, but Izuku and Ochako weren't so lucky as to have natural armor. The girl dove under the dragon's belly, a shocked shriek meeting the clap of thunder.

Izuku turned the shield up to deflect the overhead assault and the tornado came at them harshly without the wall hindering it anymore.

As the mages scrambled, the dragon was the one to think fast. Just before the tornado could sweep Izuku off of the ground, the red beast reared onto his back legs and beat a power flap of his massive wings. The wind pressure, magically strong, countered the swirling monstrosity and it dispersed into nothing.

No one had time to be impressed with the dragon, because the Tempest Demon was practically on top of them, throwing back a powerfully clawed hand to wreak destruction on the three. Red lunged at it, taking off from the ground, colliding with claws and teeth and shaking roars into the Demon.

"Red!" Ochako screamed and scrambled back to her feet.

Izuku was already swinging his staff and conjuring a glyph. It swirled blue in front of his hand and burst into violent shards of piercing blue magic at the Demon, carefully avoiding Red with each strike, but unfortunately doing very little to the ether beast.

"If you aren't going to run then fight!" Izuku shouted to the stunned girl already conjuring his next attack as an abyssal, stormy hand slammed into the dragon and sent the beast flying over the mages' heads to hit the ground behind them.

Ochako obviously wanted to make sure her friend was alright, but the Demon was attacking again and she had no choice but to stand and defend. Izuku burst a fire spell from beneath the beast and it roared in annoyance, barely slowing down. Ochako sent an attack much like the one she'd used on Yo and Izuku earlier when they fought, but again it did very little.

The next thing they knew they were both dodging giant hands impacting the ground with the clapping disorientation of shaking thunder. Ochako covered her ears, but Izuku just let his hurt, pulling on the powerful spell Master Shota had taught him before leaving the Center Magesterium.

Green lightning crackled over his arms and he leapt at the Demon, no thought or fear in his head beyond, "attack, survive". The very punch of his fist was powerful enough to send the Demon stumbling back, but it came at him angrier than ever in response. Luckily Red was diving at it just as quickly. Massive teeth sunk into the abyss of its body, the dragon somehow dwarfed by the size of the Demon, but doing his all to hold his own.

Izuku and Ochako continued to launch volleys of attacks while Red went at it tooth and claw. Adrenaline kept them moving through every spell, but the Tempest Demon was tough. Extremely tough. Nothing Izuku had ever fought in the circle had come close to this. It was hard to believe something like this could even be beaten.

And Izuku was considering very seriously demanding the others to retreat, for them all to run, but that would leave the village vulnerable. Ochako's family and all of the farmers would be slaughtered in moments by something this power. He couldn't give up.

But then Red took a hit that looked far worse than anything he'd taken before, the hit coming with a gut wrenching crack of bones. His roar was shrill and pained as his shaking body impacted a crater into the ground in front of them. Ochako had fearful tears in her eyes, turning to run to the dragon now struggling to get any footing beneath him. But the Tempest Demon backhanded her, sending her flying behind it.

The Demon sent out a thunder clap that came with a swirling spire forming in the sky, a water and wind monstrosity that sharpened and mimicked the splinter rain from before just over the injured dragon. A kill shot.

Izuku didn't think, just sped to Red's side and threw up his shield. The spire hit like a pound of bricks on bare hands. The strength it took just to hold against it as it pressed with an ever increasing pressure down on the mage and the hurting dragon was enough to knock Izuku to his knees. This wasn't just deflecting a shard of ice, this was actively holding a force from breaking them.

"Ochako!" Izuku screamed over the gusting wind, "Do something! Now!"

It was his only hope. The dragon was barely moving and he was faltering in his hold. A crack was starting to form in his barrier. There was no time left.

Red roared and Izuku's back hit his warm, thickly scaled side. The dragon's very muscles were shuddering with every movement and the air left his body in sharp rasping sparks, but still no flames.

Then he saw Ochako fly through the air. Literally. Whatever magic propelled her, she rose above the Demon's head and with an aggression he hadn't thought possible to ever appear on her soft face, her arms opened and large white glyphs formed all around the Demon. It faltered in confusion and started to lift off of the ground by the magic she employed. Izuku's eyes went wide, never having seen this type of magic before, mesmerized by the power of it.

It distracted him just a moment too long to see what was happening above him. In the same moment that the Demon physically and forcefully launched off of the ground the barrier shattered and Izuku saw blinding red.

There was little other sense but wracking pain and the pulse of his own heartbeat in his ears. His body was on the ground, his head against the flank of the red beast as a sharp cry left his lips.

"Apprentice!"

The voice sounded vague and distant. He blinked through the haze to see Ochako running towards them, but was the last thing he remembered.

"Get on your feet Captain, we can't stay here."

Katsuki's fingers twisted in his blond hair, shock turning gradually to a vicious rage in his distant eyes. Shoto was supporting a lot of Nana's weight, pushing her through every step he took to move away from the stench, the horror, the very nightmare at their backs.

"The Lord Commander…" Katsuki's hands shook, his teeth barring at the destruction.

"Was beyond help long before I took action," Nana said softly, forcing Shoto to stop at Katsuki's side with what little strength she had. "There was nothing but death beyond this canyon...there's nothing that could be done, Captain. Be thankful you're alive."

Katsuki's fist slammed into the dirt and he shouted an unintelligible, broken sound, before turning up a red-hot hate overhead to the mages.

"You've made me a deserter and a coward!" He screamed at her, "You made me run...with your cursed magic! Why didn't you leave me there to fight?"

Nana rolled her eyes, but then turned a sympathetic look down to the young face of the man who'd borne the burden of so many lives on his shoulders while barely halfway through his twenties. Shoto wanted to feel sympathetic like her, but he didn't see the point in wasting anymore time on him and barely saw the value in her saving his life in the first place. The Captain was irrational and wasn't worth the effort to keep alive, especially since he'd come to kill them moments before this had happened. Katsuki could stay here and watch his loved ones burn if he wanted, but Shoto knew it wasn't safe to stay and he wasn't going to wait around if he could help it. If the demons didn't find a way to get past the barrier, then the military reinforcement would be arriving in a manner of days. One would be certain death, the other slightly less certain death.

Katsuki had seen Shoto use blood magic so, rightly, Shoto shouldn't let him live. He should kill him before he's able to tell the army, or worse, the battle mages who would be with them. But that seemed an act too cruel for even his desperation. The only survivor of one of the bloodiest battles in history couldn't be killed in cold blood by the man who'd fought beside him minutes before. Shoto was cold, but he wasn't a monster, no matter what the Synod would now call him for having lost his wits and drawn on a magic that was forbidden.

"It doesn't matter," Nana insisted, shaking her head at his dark red eyes, "Surviving isn't cowardly and, unless you want to see how strong my barrier truly is when the Demons regroup, I suggest you start moving."

Katsuki scrambled to his feet, but it lacked the reason Nana was trying to incur. His sword was back in his hand, not in an attack hold, but in an aggressive stance. There were still tears stinging his eyes and an anguished rage wracking over his unsteady body.

"Fuck you!" he yelled, "This is all your fault! If I hadn't had to chase your sorry ass down I could have been there! We might have been able to hold the line! At the very fucking least my men wouldn't have died thinking their Captain had fucking abandoned them! Damn you mage! Damn both of you!"

Hot air shot out of Shoto's nose and he jerked his head away from the irate Captain.

"We don't need to convince him to come with us," Shoto growled, tugging against Nana's side to encourage her to move, "He can wait for the Tarlson forces. We don't need to listen to him be a pissy ingrate."

Nana planted her feet, enough strength having returned to give her physical resolve. It forced Shoto to stop, to not storm away like he planned. She slipped her arm over his head and pulled away from her support, looking Katsuki head on, standing on legs as unstable as Katsuki's temper. But she looked powerful in that moment, she looked strong...but she also looked hurt, sad...

"Captain," she stretched out her hand and he jerked away a full step.

"Don't fucking touch me mage!" he screamed, "You and your kind did this! It's always you people! The worst a human being can do is nothing compared to the blight you bastards bring! Mages summon demons! People don't summon demons!"

"Mages can cause this but they also fix it," she said in a tender voice, "We always have, but it's pretty obvious this time isn't like the times before. Where's the Magestrate? Where's the Synod's strongest? The Synod are a syncofrantic society of power hungry shitstains, but they have processes for this. You're a soldier of Dawnfell, you learn these things as a matter of principle and you aren't at all suspicious that the Synod is not following its own guidelines for ending an Archdemon infection? You are too young to remember the last time the ether touched our world, but the threat was neutralized in weeks. That's the efficiency of the Synod to the threat of the ether. The armies of Dawnfell are our frontline, your bloodline are the people who stand to defend us when a demon dares rear its head and our people make the undead shudder. The Lordships send their armies, but Dawnfell leads. I'm Dawnfelden too, Captain Katsuki...I know what our people are capable of. You had ten thousand men, an unmatched force...and all but a thousand were lost before I even set foot on your battlefield. Where was the Synod?"

"What the fuck are you saying, mage?" Katsuki shouted.

"The old ways won't work. If the Synod could banish the Archdemon they would have done so a month ago. You know this. You aren't stupid."

Shoto felt Nana's words even if Katsuki was persisting stubbornly not to hear them. The Synod's failure had not seemed so tangible until Nana began to put it into context. He too knew since growing up in a Magesterium that the threat had gone on too long and that something wasn't right about the way the Synod was handling the Summoning.

"I don't fucking trust any of you mages, I've never relied on the damn Synod to fix this or any other problem," the Captain ground his heels, heat ebbing off of his body.

"Then you don't understand how a Summoning works and you have no right to wear the badge of a Dawnfell Captain!" Nana barked, startling Katsuki.

Shoto went still too. Both boy's eyes were captured by the powerful image of a woman who had seen and experienced more than their combined years could ever equate. Even Katsuki was a bit floored. Shoto expected an outlash, something brutish as he tended to prefer, just scream at her that she was a "bitch" for saying something like that about him. But what they'd witnessed today, what they'd been through must have jarred some part of his brain that held a single ounce of rationality to allow actual consideration to surface on his face.

"It doesn't matter what you think of mages, you need them," she spoke with intensity, "Every Dawnfelden knows this. You can't stop the Archdemon, you can't banish him, and neither can your human armies. They will march here with a small cohort of mages, but they will be as ineffective as the last."

Shoto's teeth ground. He was a little grated at being referred to as useless by Nana. He never felt like he belonged with the battle mages, but that didn't mean he wasn't good at what he did, that he wasn't effective.

"We fought and we lost people just like they did!" Shoto snapped at her, "We gave our all and I lost everyone long before the Captain did."

Nana turned a calm look to him and he shrunk a bit under it. "I never said the mages who stood to defend our lands weren't noble...but I've met your Master Ferris before. That's no Demon fighter. He didn't belong anywhere near a fight."

It wasn't something Shoto wanted to admit, but Nana had a point. The cohort leader was magically adept, but he was no commander and far from a skilled warrior. And his troops were like Shoto, fresh from the Magesterium, young men who should be apprenticing under battle Masters, not locked in the heat of full scale war with no specific battle training. He already believed what she'd told him before, he was convinced from the things that he'd seen on these frontlines that Nana was their only hope of stopping the Archdemon, that his efforts and whatever the Synod had been doing wasn't going to be the solution and that actions had to be taken...but it didn't make being considered one of the useless pieces any less frustrating.

"Fuck," Katsuki's angry yell dropped to a hissing whisper as his entire body clenched in frustration, "What kind of plan do you have?"

The words slapped Shoto like a tree branch in the face. Was the Captain actually considering what Nana was saying to him?

"We have to find the Summoner," Nana turned back to him resolutely, "If we stop him then I could use my magic to fight the Archdemon…"

Katsuki bared his teeth again. He didn't like that part.

"No," Katsuki growled, "You aren't using people's blood to fight that thing. That's fucking corrupt."

"I won't," Nana shook her head, "I can use my own." She threw a glance over her shoulder to Shoto whose brow furrowed tightly at that. It didn't seem to fall in line with what she'd said before, but he wasn't going to interrupt her now.

"The only thing you're risking is my life," Nana said, "We can do this if you help us…"

Katsuki was still greatly uncertain. The tears he'd shed weren't even dry on his cheeks yet. He was unstable, livid, likely heartbroken, though he'd never admit it. If anything Shoto was surprised he was listening at all and not just outright attacking them. It must have been a sign of how desperate this situation was, how horrible what they'd witnessed while stationed at this encampment had been.

"Isn't the Synod searching for the Summoner already?" Katsuki asked, shifting his hold on the sword.

"The Summoner was here," Nana clenched her fists, "He stood at the Archdemon's back when I fought him. The Synod tracks the Summoner by the unique energy they trace from the ether. Any Master worth his salt could have seen he was there. Ferris didn't notice him and the Synod hasn't been seen anywhere near here. If they're searching for him they're doing a pretty shit job of it. I'm not waiting around for those secondrates to handle it. You don't seem like someone who likes waiting around for others to solve your problems either…"

Katsuki sucked his teeth and cursed, surprisingly shoving his sword into its sheath.

"I like working with Fallen Mages less," Katsuki growled, "But there's ten thousand men down there who should be marching home to their families, not rotting in tainted earth."

A soft smile fell over Nana's face and her shaky, tense pose relaxed some to Shoto's ultimate disdain. He was entirely disbelieving that this was even happening in front of him right now. That Katsuki Bakugo, the most irrational, mage hating man he'd ever met was listening to a Fallen Mage and coming to some sort of a mutual grounding with her.

"Fuck me, I can't believe I'm saying this shit," the Captain grimaced, "But I think you're our best bet right now. This," he waved a hand behind him, wincing at the destruction, "didn't work and I'm done trusting the damn Synod anymore. You at least did something to that big Demon bastard while my men dropped like flies and the mages had their asses handed to them. You want my help ending this hell then fine, I'll help, but you're still Fallen Mages...both of you."

It was Shoto's turn to wince. His heart dropped into his ribs at those words. He still felt the power he'd experience tingling on his fingertips and his stomach turned. He wasn't Fallen. He'd slipped up and tapped into something he never intended to, that didn't make him Fallen...did it?

Katsuki straightened his shoulders, stepping into Nana's space, showing his height, his physical prowess. Nana had to very slightly angle her eyes up to meet his gaze as he fixed her with vicious determination.

"As far as I'm concerned you're still dead meat when this is over," he hissed at her unphased expression, "I'm a damn Dawnfelden Captain and I'll do my fucking duty to the last."

Nana smiled knowingly up at him. "I'd expect nothing less, which is why we need you."

"Good," Katsuki barked, "You're my prisoners until this is over."

"Agreed," Nana nodded.

"Wait," Shoto stormed up to Katsuki, "I'm not your prisoner!"

"Shoto," Nana's hand touched his arm gently, "There's a bigger enemy out there than each other. Whatever label the Captain needs to put on this situation for it to work is irrelevant to the bigger picture."

Katsuki crossed his arms at Shoto, that shaken rage replaced by a smug snarl.

"Step off, mage," he challenged, "I don't need to wait until the Archdemon is dead to destroy you."

The tension rose like heatwaves and Shoto's hands opened to fight. But with a stomp of her foot, Nana pulled strong, magic grown vines from the earth to wrap around their ankles and ground the two hot headed boys in place. Both took it with pointed frustration to the mage.

"Stop your bickering," Nana said sharply, "You both want the Archdemon dead. That's all that matters. The Captain can't work with us without us being his prisoners. I'm Fallen and you've used blood magic Shoto...those are the facts. He'd betray his own oath if he didn't consider us his enemies still. And you may not like it, but we need help that only a Dawnfelden Captain can obtain. A Synod mage that's barely an apprentice will be brushed aside without consideration and I'll be killed on sight if anyone discovers who I am. You can hate each other and you can hate me, but we have a common goal. Are you going to fight for it or are you going to doom the world by killing each other?"

Shoto hated every word of it. Every word that told him that Katsuki was important, that said he had to be civil with the man who'd very recently tried to kill them, the man who still demanded that he would kill them when all of this was over.

But Nana was right and Shoto yielded first.

"Fine."

Hot air shot from Katsuki's nose and he shook his head stubbornly, though his words didn't match. "Whatever it fucking takes."

The roots released them both and the two stepped away from each other as Nana stumbled. Apparently that show of strength knocked what little energy she had left from her. Shoto took to her side swiftly, propping her up and getting her feet moving again.

"Thank you, Shoto," she smiled weakly at him, "We need to move inland. The incoming troops will spread word of what happened, but we need to get into the Dawnship...get resources...get…"

"Save your strength," Shoto nodded and threw a glare to Katsuki, jerking his head ahead of them, signalling the Dawnfelden to take the lead into the heart of Dawnfell, "We'll get there, just focus on getting your energy back."

Shoto had never casted magic like what he'd seen Nana create today and he could only imagine how physically devastating it would be. Even if a lot of that power had come from the blood she used the toll it took on her body was apparent.

Before moving out Katsuki undid the fastens of his armor, grumbling frustration as he stripped the heavy metal from his body and dropped it to the ground. His armguards stayed, but the leg bracers fell away too, leaving him in the far more manageable attire of breaches, shirt, and leather chest cover; light armor under his heavy armor.

"It's a long way to go on foot," Katsuki kicked the armor and stomped ahead of them, "Without rations we don't have the energy to spare for any real protection."

The mage shrugged at his explanation and the three began their journey, tense, shaken, angry, and somehow feeling very lost despite their mutually important goal.

Shoto hated that Katsuki was with them. Earlier he'd almost found that he respected him, but now he couldn't stand to look at him. He shouldn't feel that way. Katsuki's reactions had basis, they made sense considering what he knew and what he'd lost. But he wasn't okay with being Katsuki's prisoner and he was less happy about trusting him with their survival. He didn't believe that the Captain wouldn't change his mind after a few miles and decide to just kill them both in their weakened state instead of helping them. He planned to keep a close eye on him for as long as he was around.

"Go easy on him," Nana whispered to Shoto at a low register, "He's just doing his duty."

"It seems like his duty has always been to be an ass so I guess you're right," Shoto growled.

"The first duty of a Dawnfelden soldier is to defend against the ether, Shoto." Nana swallowed and sighed, "That's what he's doing by not killing us right now, by doing something so incredibly risky. He could lose everything just being near us."

Shoto looked behind him to the barrier slowly getting smaller as they gained distance. "Seems like he already has."

Nana nodded. "He's a man with nothing to lose…"

"That can be dangerous," Shoto stared hard at the back of the blond head of hair.

"Or invaluable," Nana added, "We'll succeed Shoto...the fact that you're here tells me so."

Shoto bristled a little. "You understood before I did what I was going to do...that I'd help you and join you...how?"

He shifted his arm to better hold her and she cocked her weary head at him. "You freed me out of desperation...but then you used blood magic. Honestly, I've never really known if you had some sort of noble spirit driving you to do the right thing, but what I know is that you're scared shitless and I'm the only person who can help."

Shoto grimaced on the thought.

"You can't change what you did anymore than I can," Nana said tiredly, "If anyone ever hears about you using Blood Magic you'll never have a place in the Synod again. At best you'll be banished to Dracos. I'd say it's a better fate than most since any dragon older than an infant knows mage blood is poison and won't try to eat you, and even better you'll be free of the Synod. But I don't think that's what you want."

"This was never supposed to happen," Shoto whispered.

"Shoto…" Nana took long breaths, winded, "You don't want to hear this, but you'll need to embrace it...I'm going to need you."

Shoto almost stopped short, but kept himself going so as not to fall too far behind the Captain, already storming ahead with purpose.

"For what?"

"I can't defeat the Archdemon alone," Nana said so softly that Shoto barely believed he heard it, "Without a score of dead to draw from, I'll need living blood to match that strength, my own preferably. But it won't be enough. We will need two blood mages to face him… we'll need you."

Shoto shook his head violently. "No. I can't… I'll never touch something like that again!"

The arm around Shoto's neck stiffened as her hand fisted into his robes.

"You're alive for a reason, Shoto," Nana said, "You're powerful...stronger than the other battle mages in your cohort...you accessed blood magic without even trying and it was strong. I've never seen someone do that. The Synod was foolish to send you anywhere except the Center Magesterium. Were I the Synod I would fear you…"

Shoto twisted his face in confusion. He'd convinced himself at a young age that he was destined to be a Synod Master. Izuku mentioned every time their skills were tested that there was something about Shoto's power that spoke Center Magesterium, but Shoto never had a grasp of what that boy saw in him besides his raw power to say such a thing. And he'd been wrong too. The Synod damned him to this post and accepted that bookworm into the Center instead. It had been Izuku's dream as much as it had been Shoto's, but he had a hard time not resenting him for it. While Izuku was apprenticing with the greatest Masters and forming unique skills that would bring him to the top, Shoto was dragging a Fallen Mage from a bloodbath on the heels of the most frustrating man he'd ever met.

He hated to say it, but Nana's constant berating of the Synod didn't bother him like it should. He almost respected her openness to disregard them. Shoto had been raised by them, trained by them, but right now he hated them for this situation. If they hadn't sent him here maybe so much of this wouldn't have happened…maybe...

"There's no changing what brought us here, Shoto," Nana said calmly, like she could read his mind, but in reality she was reading his conflicted expression. "I know you want to end the Archdemon and I'm telling you that you have the power to do it. I won't say it to the Captain because I don't want him any more angry with you than he already is, but if we want to survive this you need to learn blood magic…"

Something like an ice shard jammed into his throat. An awful feeling enveloped him, but a spark of thrill beat into his heart. He remembered the power he felt with the blood magic in his hands, but Nana had been right too, it had scared him shitless.

"Keep up!" Katsuki shouted behind them, his voice strained, suppressing the feelings they were all experiencing over the things they'd seen. The things that were going to haunt their dreams for as long as they lived.

Shoto pushed Nana to pick up the pace a little, but she was clearly exhausted to the point that she wasn't breathing right anymore. He again requested that she conserve her strength for as long as she could, but really it was because he couldn't respond to that statement just yet. His mind raced over the possibility of it, over what such a thing would mean… over the consequences he would be forced to live with.

Could he damn himself for the sake of the world?


	7. The Things That Haunt The Night

To say the wedding festivities came and went quickly was an understatement. The Joining Hall was thrown together in hours, the wedding itself a blink of an eye, the celebration a hazed out blur of awkward traditions that the newlyweds were forced into. The Capitol made the day a holiday for everyone. The king didn't half ass even a rushed event and the frivolities spread through the entire city. Togata was no prince, but it was a royal wedding nonetheless.

Togata's mother, the King's sister, made it overseas in time to make the celebration, but his father was detained from attending. The Capitol had a secondary reason to celebrate to have their once princess home again for the first time in twenty-six years and the bright, beautiful woman shed joyful tears to see her homeland and her son after so much time.

The Todorokis did not attend, as had already been expected. Fuyumi had seemed indifferent about it and overall calm about the entire situation up until the ceremony. Something in her eyes changed when she saw Togata standing with his mother before the officator. Her steps became incredibly slow and her voice shaky as she repeated her vows, never meeting his eye. Even so, she didn't run from Togata like she had at the betrothal ceremony. She stayed at his side through the event, she took his hand, she allowed the seal of the marriage kiss and everything. But she shifted uncomfortably everytime Togata's mother was near.

Momo took in the entire thing as a distant spectator. She also did her duties and showed her support to her cousin, but she took the role of observer, watching the girl closely, watching to be sure Togata seemed happy, and, annoyingly, watching Commander Tenya more than she should have. He hadn't spoken to her beyond basic courtesies and acknowledgment, but she found her eyes followed him.

His eyes were always on Fuyumi. Protective it seemed. Cautious. Like the Todorokis and their subordinates were as suspicious of the Yagis as they were of the Todorokis. Momo might have found it upsetting if she weren't doing much the same thing. Watching Fuyumi and Togata with cautious suspicion, waiting for the enemy house to make a compromising move.

But neither did anything except get married, eat cake, and fend off nobles trying to congratulate them. For all intents and purposes, this was a beautiful, joyful event for the entire kingdom to celebrate. The Yagi and the Todoroki houses were joined, the Princess Tana was home, the King was relishing his every moment with his last living sibling, Togata was swinging his bride on the dancefloor to her shock and surprising amusement, and for that day their family was more together than it had been since before Momo was born.

Only the event was just a day. One droplet in a bucket.

Three days later the Capitol's forces were armed, mounted, and prepared to leave.

It gave the newlyweds a very brief time to get to know each other, and things were certainly not comfortable with them yet, but the farewell that Fuyumi offered her husband at least sounded real. Perhaps she wasn't going to actively miss him, but when she said that she hoped he would return safe, Momo actually believed it.

Togata on the other hand...well, he actually seemed to like her. He held onto her hand longer than Momo expected and placed a kiss on her forehead before beaming his signature smile, saying, "I'll be back before you know it."

She gave a courtly bow of her head and moved back to Commander Tenya's side. To Momo's surprise the Tarlson Commander was not leaving with the army. Her initial feeling was of excitement, but she turned it quickly to suspicion. If the danger was as real as Togata said, why leave such an invaluable military leader where he could affect so little in the war effort? The Todorokis wanted him here for some reason and the Queen's unofficial assignment to Momo buzzed in his ears. Never trust a Todoroki.

Momo didn't stop herself from crying when she hugged Togata goodbye. He squeezed her tightly, even lifted her off the ground for a moment. She knew this would be hard, but it hurt more than she really expected. It wasn't that he was leaving. He did that all the time. It was the underlying threat. The fact that they had rushed a wedding before he was sent away. The fact that it wasn't just a joke between them, but that the powers that be were planning around his possible death.

When they pulled apart he childishly messed her hair like he tended to do and she laughingly swatted him away.

"Don't go planning my funeral just yet," he winked and moved to mount his horse.

She really wasn't feeling like playing their usual dismal game right now, but for his sake she pulled out a smile and a shrug.

"No promises."

Momo stayed on the ramparts until the army was entirely out of sight and sound. The entire city felt heavy. The joyful heart of a few days prior was lost to the reality of war. Every family in the sweeping streets and cityscape below were sending a loved one to possible death today. It wasn't just Momo risking loss, it was every baker, farmer, stonemason, and street performer. There was a strange solidarity to be found in it, but it didn't make the weight on her chest lighten any.

"Momo?"

The princess raised an eyebrow, more surprised that Fuyumi was actually using her given name without titles than surprised to find her approaching without warning.

Pulling on her diplomatic face, Momo turned to her and smiled. The Lady was standing straighter than Momo was used to, head up, voice even. She was probably just relieved that the wedding business was over and with Togata gone she could finally have some real peace.

"Yes?"

"This last week has been a chaotic blur," Fuyumi gave a breathy laugh, sounding almost comfortable, "You've been incredibly generous and forgiving, but I feel as though I haven't been as courteous to you. We may have started on some bad footing, but I'd like to fix that. We're family now and I'd like us to be friends."

The wind rolling over the ramparts was the only sound for a solid moment as Momo let that sink in. She was searching her face and her voice for the underlying sinister intention, for the game the Todoroki girl must be playing. But Momo couldn't pick up on anything. Was she actually trying to make friends?

"Oh." Momo sputtered a moment, her diplomatic posture dropping as she seriously considered it. "I think that would be a good idea too."

Fuyumi's cheeks pushed up in a gentle smile and it made Momo smile in return. Smiling was a constant state in her family, besides her mother, and the girl's sullen nature had been grating on Momo from the start. It was easing to see her finally smile for real.

The Lady moved to the stone wall of the ramparts and leaned on the surface, looking out over the town, gray eyes bigger than usual as she breathed in crisp air. Momo returned to her spot beside Fuyumi and cautiously eyed her.

"It's beautiful here," Fuyumi sighed, "Tarlson is beautiful too, but it's different here...you can see farther and there aren't so many clouds."

Momo gave a sad laugh, "It's a beautiful day to send your loved ones to war, isn't it?"

It got very quiet, before Fuyumi turned sympathetic eyes to Momo.

"I'm sorry about Togata," she said, "I know you must be worried."

Momo shrugged, trying to deflect from how scared she really was. "You should probably be more worried than me," she said lightly, "Unless you managed to work some magic over the last few nights, you're position in our family won't be very stable without an heir. Aunt Tana is a wonderful woman and will be very accepting of you with or without her son, but even that will be reliant on your family being willing to let my family sweep you off to an island nation."

Fuyumi shook her head. "We both know that won't happen. I know how important an heir is. That's my value to my house. If Togata dies and I haven't conceived then another marriage will be arranged."

Momo's stomach tightened. She was well aware of the political realities, but it was sickening to hear the girl speak about herself like that. The unease was clear in her face, the thought of going through this again, this hellish week of displacement, living among strangers, and forced intimacy with a person she hardly knew. She was a noble, but she was human, she felt discomfort like any other did.

Fuyumi's arm wrapped around her gut. "I still don't really know him, but I think you were right that I've been blessed with a rare union. I can't see myself getting this lucky twice."

"He'll come back," Momo smiled, putting a lot of hope into her words that she struggled to believe, "He always does."

Pushing back from the wall Momo looked the girl up and down, took in the pensive stare she turned out to the horizon, the tight hold she had over her stomach, the way it told her fears and hopes without a sound.

"Can I ask you something?" Momo tilted her head and Fuyumi gave her a quick nod, "Did Aunt Tana say something to you?"

Fuyumi startled a little and blinked at Momo in confusion. "What? No! What do you mean?"

"You've seemed upset with her," Momo frowned, "I don't know her very well myself, but if she's anything like my father, which she seems very much to be, I can't see her being cruel to you."

Fuyumi shook her head and waved her arms to dissuade the idea in Momo's head. "No, it's not that! She's been wonderful to me. Your father has too. You come from a loving, incredible family. I'm not upset with her...it's upsetting to see her."

"Why?"

A long breath passed from Fuyumi's lips and she folded her arms over herself against the breeze. "She's been treating me like a daughter and just seeing how she is with Togata… I just miss my mother is all."

Momo instantly softened from head to toe. "Oh...I'm sorry, Fuyumi. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything."

"It's fine," Fuyumi shook her head, "It's just been reminding me how she wasn't here for any of this...how she wouldn't have been even if things weren't rushed. I'm sure you understand. No girl wants to say their wedding vows without their mother there."

Momo nodded. Her own family was integral to every part of her life. Even if the wedding was to an eighty year old man from a half rotten lordship, she wouldn't want to be married without her parents at her side.

"I get it," she said, "Some days I want to scream in her face, but I can't imagine living my life without my mother. What's your mother like?"

Fuyumi smiled distantly, "Well my answer is probably the same as any other persons. She's sweet, loving, caring, and a wonderful mother…"

Momo chuckled, "My mother is a frigid bitch...but yes...she's also a loving and caring mother so I guess you're right that we all described them the same. They're our mothers after all."

"Well she was," Fuyumi's shoulder slouched, "She hasn't really been a mother to anyone in years. I'd still be missing her if I was home with her right now."

A head tilt indicated Momo's need for further explanation and Fuyumi dipped her head before taking the queue to continue.

"My mother isn't a very well person," she said tentatively, "She's not ill necessarily...she's just not all there. Not that I can really blame her."

Momo's eyes narrowed. "I've heard that these mental illnesses often pass on…" she gave a very pointed look to Fuyumi and then to her stomach, making clear a concern she wasn't voicing...the concern for future children her cousin might be raising.

"Not this type," Fuyumi bit her cheek, "though I do have plenty of my own fears. My mother's body was not hospitable to her children. We lost count of the miscarriages and stillbirths. When you've held more of your dead children in your arms than living ones...it takes its toll."

A shiver went up Momo's spine. She wasn't sure she had the giving, loving heart that a mother should, but the very idea of repeatedly losing children to her own body was horrifying. Her heart went out to the poor woman in question and then more to the young woman standing across from her, holding tight to her own stomach.

"You're afraid it will happen to you too," Momo observed, "You're afraid your body is going to kill your babies like your mother's did."

She gave a quick nod. "Me and Natsuo and...well the two of us have been around it our whole lives so we're oddly used to it, but that doesn't mean it will be easier if it does happen. And it carries the risk that I might fail to bear a living heir and in that case the marriage could still be annulled and I could be sent home to be married off again. I...I don't know why I'm telling you all this. It's not in my best interest for you to know this and there's nothing stopping you from telling the King and ending this right here and now, but like I said...I do want to be friends with you Momo. I want to trust you."

A short laugh escaped Momo before she could catch it. She was surprised and impressed. To admit such a flaw that could devalue her entire union was possibly extremely foolish...or extremely gutsy to say to the princess of all people. The words, "never trust a Todoroki" were a distant echo in her mind the more she spoke with Fuyumi. She had yet to find something threatening about the girl, yet to find something dishonest or underhanded. She didn't want to be foolish...but giving Fuyumi a reason to trust her felt like a good idea and something Momo's heart was asking her to do.

"Your secret is safe with me," Momo moved to her side, linking their arms in a friendly way, "Besides...there's no saying if it'll even happen. You may be worried for nothing."

"I hope you're right," Fuyumi tapped her shoulder lightly into Momo's.

They descended the ramparts arm in arm, easing into a familiarity that each girl was trying to grow to one another. Which left Momo feeling open enough to ask a question plaguing her for some time now.

"What's with Commander Tenya?" Momo raised an eyebrow, "Why is he still here and not leaving with the others?"

Fuyumi shrugged one shoulder. "Our families don't exactly trust each other. Your father wouldn't send you to live in Tarlson without someone watching over you every second."

"That's fair," Momo laughed, "So is he staying indefinitely then?"

"I suppose," Fuyumi said nonchalantly, "Until I don't need him anymore or father finds a better use for him somewhere else. But I'm glad he's here either way. It's nice to have a familiar face among so many strangers."

"Are you friends?" Momo asked.

Fuyumi nodded. "The Iida family has served our Lordship forever. We all practically grew up under the same roof. His brother is Natsuo's right hand and Tenya leads his own battalion of Tarlson soldiers. Natsuo has always been closer to them, but I'm fond of them too."

A touch of jealousy hit Momo's chest, but she forced it down quickly. She shouldn't even be asking about this. She'd already resolved that she wasn't going to think about the little infatuation and this wasn't helping.

She steered the conversation away from the Commander and contented herself in friendly chat. Every passing minute was making having Fuyumi here and Togata gone easier. Fuyumi was genuinely sweet and kind. She had a wonder for the world around her and Momo was having a hard time staying cynical towards her.

At night they retired to their rooms with a laugh at how much time they had lost conversating. It was incredibly late and Momo's exhaustion was strong. Her handmaids prepared her for bed and she slipped into her sheets with a content sigh. Her heart still ached to have Togata gone and in danger, but spending today with Fuyumi had eased so much of that away. Her heart felt almost full and she found herself genuinely hopeful that Lady Fuyumi had gotten lucky over her few nights with Togata and maybe she would have a little one to expect.

All pleasant thoughts to lull her to sleep.

But sleep never came. It hovered on the brink, about to take her, when a voice she didn't know brushed hot air across her ear and said the words, "Stand."

Momo's heart slammed into her chest as without any voluntary thought she lurched up and stood beside her bed. Shocked and terrified that her body had just acting without her will she opened her mouth to scream.

"Be silent." The voice commanded and her mouth snapped shut.

"Be still."

Momo's body locked up and all she could do was breathe heavily and throw her wide eyes about the room in search of what was making her do this. There was nothing but shadows and darkness, but something shifted in her periphery and she tried to force a scream from her mouth to no avail.

In a single, silent stride, a tall, lanky figure moved in front of her as panicked tears hit her eyes. A man dressed in limber black attire, mouth covered with a slotted mask, eyes glowing a bright violet on her through the darkness, hovered close with a short blade poised in his hand.

They only managed to travel about two miles before their exhaustion took over and they were forced to stop and rest. They went a little off road to where there was an outcropping of trees, but not so far that they couldn't see the path they were traveling. With no rations and no blankets they did what they could to make it liveable.

Katsuki gathered wood while Shoto leaned Nana to a tree and encouraged her to rest. She nodded off almost immediately, having grown weaker with every mile they went.

Shoto had arranged some stones in a circle and when Katsuki returned he made a fire with a quick burst of magic. The two boys said nothing to each other, just passing glares before lying down close on either side of the heated stones and smoldering wood.

Their bodies were weary, limbs weak, and heads heavy, but when Shoto closed his eyes what he saw was the recurring image that had stayed with him since that battle. The silhouette of the Archdemon, the sea of mangled corpses, the swirl of blood around the Blood Mage. Stricken, gored faces, staring lifeless. The chattering grotesqueness of that half-rotten undead, the burn in his skin as it cleaved flesh from his face. The screams of dying men.

His fingers dug into the dirt and his heart raced like it had done every night since he had seen the Archdemon. He shifted again and again, uncomfortable and aching. He lifted his arm over his head, holding himself close as he heard shifting across the fire. Shoto went very still, eyes pulling slowly open. He didn't move though, listening instead as Katsuki rolled and rustled the leaves beneath him. He went quiet again after a moment, almost convincing Shoto that he'd fallen asleep, before he heard a sharp gasp and a breathy curse.

Shoto's heart rate settled at the restless sounds. He couldn't explain it, but there was a strange comfort in hearing that he wasn't the only one disturbed from sleep right now, not the only one haunted.

While Shoto listened to the Captain's breath turn even again, something else caught his ear that didn't sound quite normal. It came from the trees, shuffling so light it might have been a could have been an animal were it not for the hiss of a whisper. There was someone nearby, he could practically feel them.

Shoto's staff was next to him, but he stayed still, feigning sleep, not wanting to give away that he noticed anything. He didn't trust that it wasn't just his imagination and he didn't want to disturb his already restless companions over nothing.

Then muted feet hit the ground, not a leaf crunched or twig snapped, but a definite impact that some sense he could barely name picked up on. It also told him that there was an extra presence in their makeshift camp and that it was approaching him.

Blood pulsed through his ears as he waited until the very last second, waited for the intruder to get just close enough to touch before lunging for his staff and praying that he would be the quicker man.

Shot's weapon came into his hand and he was on his feet spinning on the intruder in a mere second, ready to fight.

"Oh shit!"

The reaction did not match his intended actions, but the rest of the intruder looked the part. Lithe, nimble, dark brown attire with a hood over hair that was so brightly yellow blond that it stood out like a beacon even under his cowl. There was a dagger on his belt, but nothing in his long fingered hands; it hadn't been drawn to be used, he hadn't been intending to kill the sleeping man at the least. Shoto wouldn't make his attack lethal either; fair was fair. He'd make it hurt like hell though.

Shoto lifted his arm, blue light forming on his fingers in the conjuring of magic. The man immediately stumbled back, fear all over his half hidden face as a sharp whistle shot from his lips. Across the fire another smaller body was physically flung from where the Captain jerked violently awake.

The second intruder hit the ground with a guttural "oof", her own hood thrown back on the impact, revealing wild pink hair around translucent skin and framing massive black eyes turned wide on the towering menace that was the sleep deprived, angry Captain stalking towards her with his sword in hand.

"Who the hell are you?" Katsuki shouted.

The man in front of Shoto exchanged looks with his accomplice and then let out a short, nervous laugh back to Shoto.

"Yeah...not part of the plan, hun," he said to the girl, backing up, "Run!"

Neither Shoto nor Katsuki had any intention of letting that happen. The second they tried to make a run for it the captain and the mage were on top of them, Shoto casting a dull shard of ice to collide with the back of the first intruders head, while Katsuki swung a wide swipe at the girl. Her voice hit the air in a shriek, but she ducked it, rolling away. She got barely a foot away from him before Katsuki placed a swift kick into her gut and sent her sprawling on her back, coughing up air and dodging another strike.

The male intruder stumbled at the hit to his head, but kept his bearings, whipping out his dagger and turning on Shoto to fight. He crossed his arms in front of his face just before a much harsher spell was able to knock him clean out. It struck the bracers on his arms and rippled over the light armor like his magic had done over the shield Katsuki had used at the encampment. More enchanted armaments.

It was annoying, but his area of defense was small and at best it would be a small challenge for Shoto to fight around. Mainly because the young mage was acting entirely on adrenaline and the fact that his own magic attacks could knock himself on his ass in a split second if he accidentally put too much power behind it.

"Ha!" the intruder smiled after deflecting the attack.

The smug look fell quickly as Shoto raised his staff and his right hand at him, unphased by the deflection and forming both green and red glyphs on him at once.

"Shit…" the intruder turned to run and escape the spell heating up in Shoto's hands. He barely made it a step before he came face to face with the heavy, darkened eyes of Nana illuminated like a monster in the glow of the dying embers.

Seeing her stopping the intruder in his tracks, caused the magic in Shoto's hands to dim. He retracted the spell as Nana took the hand with the dagger in it and twisted it back with dark, vine-like magic. She ripped the blade from his hand, keeping his wrist twisting in such a way that he yowled in pain.

"Ah!" he screamed as she kept his arm bent painfully and fisted her free hand into the front of his tunic, physically lifting him off the ground.

Shoto's mouth dropped open in shock at her strength, especially in such a state as she was, but then the cowl fell back to reveal the sharp points of elf ears and his surprise was gone. The small framed creatures were naturally very light, like a bundle of clothes stuffed tight with straw, but even still it was unexpected from the mage that he had practically carried over the last mile of their journey.

Her eyes went wide on the revealed face and her lips parted to say something, but it never came out as Katsuki's bellowing caught all of their attention.

"Get back here and die you bastard!"

The man that Nana was lifting off of the ground squirmed frantically in her grip as the Captain grabbed the girl's hood and threw her back to the ground violently. His boot slammed into her throat and her pale, pink tinted fingers clawed at his foot to get free, her own short sword already out of reach. Big black eyes turned up to the Captain, fearful as he swept back his sword to make a finishing move.

"Denki!" she barely managed to squeal past his choking foot, just before everything came to a solid standstill on the whipcrack of Nana's voice.

"Stay your blade!" She bit the air. Katsuki threw harsh, stubborn red eyes at her, arm held above his head, still ready to strike the girl down and obviously upset that he was being told to hold off.

Shoto turned an equally curious look to Nana, but she was staring wide eyed at the elf boy in her hands, confused and disbelieving. Katsuki asked the question before it could leave Shoto's lips.

"Why? They tried to kill us!"

"We weren't trying to kill you," the elf boy's feet kicked in the air as he whined on the continuously harsh twist against his wrist, "We were trying to rob you!"

"Jokes on you, shithead, we don't have anything to steal!" Katsuki huffed and ground his foot a little harder into the girl's neck, paying little attention to her peachy pink skin turning a hint of blue under his suffocation.

The man, Denki as the girl called him, formed a tightly concerned look at the Captain, biting his inner cheek as he thrashed against Nana's hold.

"Let her go, you're going to kill her!" he shouted at Katsuki, frantically.

"Captain, let the girl breathe," Nana snapped, inexplicably lowering the elf back to where his feet touched the ground and releasing his twisted wrist. "I know this elf."

That surprised everyone including the elf.

"Wait, how?" Katsuki growled.

"Yeah, who are you supposed to- oh..." Denki started to complain before his own eyes widened on the older woman.

Nana turned a severe look to Katsuki. "Let the girl breathe and I'll tell you. Haven't enough people died today, Captain?"

Shoto felt as iced by that statement as Katsuki looked. He was frozen for a good moment, but finally moved his foot, cursing sharply under his breath as he let up on her windpipe. The girl coughed and gasped like she'd never tasted air before, rolling to her side to grab her chest and heave deep gulps of oxygen. A moment of respite was all she got before Katsuki had her by the hair again, pulling pink curls away from sharp ears as he put his blade an inch from her throat in a tangible threat.

"What's going on, Nana?" Shoto eyed the sharply blond elf and then the face of the woman staring him down.

"Is that really you after all these years?" Denki sounded taken aback and shook his head before looking at her again

Nana let go of his shirt and smacked an open palm to the front of his head.

"Ow...yeah, that's you."

"I'm surprised you remember your own damn name," Nana sighed and shoved him away, rubbing against the dark circles beneath her eyes.

"Who are these people?" Katsuki pulled on the girl's hair roughly and she yelped, but stayed fearfully still while a blade hovered over her throat.

"I'm Denki Kaminari," the elf boy rubbed his forehead, turning a grit smile to Nana and then the others, "That's Mina."

Nana eyed the girl closely and then groaned back at Denki. "A Moondance elf? Denki!"

His hands went up defensively.

Shoto relaxed a bit, noticing the ease in which Nana and the elf had instantly fallen in with each other. It was very curious and bore a plethora of questions as to what history she had with this elf currently doing a poor job at being a thief.

"Nana?"

Her expression softened on Shoto. "You remember I said that I learned magic from the Solstice Elves? Me and Denki's father trained together most of those years. He and his brother were my closest friends in Solen. We haven't spoken in a long time, but I've always respected him deeply... and I can only imagine what he would say if he knew his son was trasping around in Gaetha with a damn Moondance Elf!"

"I take full offense at that," the girl chirped before biting back her lips at the subtle press of Katsuki's blade.

"Hey, I thought you were the open minded one!" Denki huffed, "Besides he's aware. Extremely aware…"

Nana stared at the intense glare he was directing at the ground for some time before she sighed with a weight as heavy as bricks, pinching the bridge of her nose

"Denki...he threw you out?"

"Banished actually," Mina, the elf girl, tried to chime in again, but got a hair tug for her efforts.

Denki gave her a look that begged her to shut her mouth before turning back a laugh to Nana.

"Funny story actually…" Denki shifted and shrunk a bit to notice Shoto's threatening proximity and Nana's disapproving glare so close to him, "You know the old Prayer Tree?"

Nana's disapproval turned to something darker instantly.

"What did you do?"

"Would it help if I said it was an accident?"

Nana's face said clearly that it would not, in fact, help.

"Look my father wanted me to learn to use magic so I tried! I really did!"

"Damn it boy," Nana shook her head.

Katsuki was already far away from whatever the incident with the tree was when he yelled in a disgusted tone at the yellow haired elf. "What sort of degenerate species chooses to learn magic?"

"The Solstice Elves don't believe magic has any inherent evil," Nana eyed Katsuki narrowly, "That it's a tool the same as a sword or rake."

"And do you believe that?" Shoto couldn't help the question.

"That's not important right now," she shook her head, "Katsuki, let the elf go, please. I think you've made your point. They won't try anything." The look she gave Denki demanded that he agree with her, that he make sure what she'd just claimed would be true.

"You said it yourself, you've got nothing for us to steal," Denki shrugged, eyes darting from Mina to Katsuki tentatively, hopefully. They were both playing this off like it was nothing, but he could feel Denki's fear every time he looked at the girl. While she was in Katsuki's hands he had every right to.

Air shot from the Captain's nostrils violently before he pulled the sword away and shoved the girl back into the dirt. She didn't care, just scurried away from him as fast as possible, grabbing her throat as she found her feet and took cautious steps around the mostly dead firepit to move over to Denki, watching Katsuki with cautious black eyes.

Denki met Mina halfway and situated himself between her and the rest of them, both of their more cautious glares spared for Katsuki alone. He returned the look a thousand times more viciously.

The tense threats that remained unvocalized dissipated from everyone as Nana's knees unexpectedly buckled beneath her. Shoto was fast, but not fast enough to keep her knees from scraping the ground through the folds of her robes. Denki startled and reached out to catch her as well, but Shoto was already on it, easing her back into a seated position by the embers of the fire. Concern pulsed in his chest and with a flick of his wrist he hit the pit with another fire spell to surge it back to life and return reasonable light to their surroundings.

"Are you okay?" he asked her, observing Nana's face closely. There was a strange feeling dripping off of her, dark and throbbing like the encroachment of the ether, but smaller and more sickly. Her skin was pale and her eyes were surrounded by dark purple. She was breathing fine, but overall she was extremely weak.

Nana shook her head lightly.

"What's wrong with her?" Denki was hanging close, but not too close once Katsuki marched around the fire to drop beside them.

Katsuki roughly shoved Shoto back and assessed the situation himself, placing a couple fingers to her throat and setting the back of his hand to her forehead.

"What are you doing?" Shoto glared at his peculiar actions.

"Checking her heartbeat and temperature," he still sounded petulant despite attentively, if not roughly, helping the older mage, "We all learn basic shit in the army so we can keep each other alive without healers." He grit his teeth at Shoto's surprised expression and then spat harshly. "We're fucked if she dies so back off, mage."

Denki pulled something from his waist and hesitantly held it out towards the Captain. "I have some water if-"

"I'm not taking your fucking poison!" Katsuki barked, but Shoto was already on his feet and taking the flask from Denki.

"Why would his own rations be poisoned, Katsuki?" Shoto rolled his eyes and dropped back beside her.

It was his turn to shove Katsuki away as he took Nana's head and helped her take a long sip. Shoto's own mouth felt incredibly dry while watching it. All three of them had gone a considerable amount of time without water or food and Shoto was beyond parched.

She took a long breath once she finished and sighed, leaning forward onto her propped up knees. The dark feelings around her subsided just a little, but they were still there, faint beneath the surface.

"I'll be fine," she said shakily, "I haven't recovered enough to have been using magic again. I shouldn't have stepped in."

"There's no changing that now," Shoto frowned, sitting back on his heels and eyeing Katsuki's twisted lips.

"She has a fever," the Captain said, "We have to get to Dawnsend fast. Without rations or blankets she'll die out here and all this shit will have been for nothing."

The chattering sounds of Denki and Mina whispering nearby caught their attention just as Mina gave Denki a sharp nod and darted away from the camp. Katsuki was on his feet, hand on his sword, moving to chase after, but Shoto grabbed his pantleg firmly and yanked him to a stop.

"Shoto," he said testily, like he could just as easily turn the blade on the mage.

"She'll be right back," Denki defended, "She's getting our supplies. It doesn't exactly benefit us to fight with you guys! Nana's the only family I have here. I want to help."

The rage filled blond let that simmer a good moment, seeming to lean towards hunting down the girl and killing her anyway, despite neither of them having given any real sign towards being a threat. He was so annoying and irrational sometimes it made Shoto want to rip his head off.

"Relax, Katsuki" Shoto demanded, "Trust somebody for once."

The Captain jerked away from Shoto's reach, sneering. "I trusted the Lord Commander with my life and I had an entire army put their faith in me. Don't talk to me about trust, mage." The words were like a whisper, but spiteful to their core, cutting.

Shoto had to swallow back the pangs of loss that hit his throat when Katsuki spoke as well as the misplaced sympathies that tried to rise for the Captain. There simply wasn't time for that.

"I'm going to use healing magic in the meantime, so just calm down," Shoto sighed, laying hands to Nana's back and chest, hoping he remembered those three healing spells he'd learned well enough to perform one.

He could feel the heavy sweat through her clothes, Katsuki had been right about the fever.

"You mages have death wishes or something?" Katsuki bit, "You look like shit too. I'm not dragging both of your half-dead asss to Dawnsend!"

Shoto paused. It was a surprisingly observant conclusion. Shoto had less rest than Nana since they'd stopped for the night and he was running on the dregs of adrenaline from their brief fight. Without rations and some actual sleep using more than a minute amount of magic could easily hurt him more than it healed Nana. But if he was careful he could at least settle her fever and stay on his own feet.

Precision was not his strong suit with magic. Harsh, dangerous, strong magic in short bursts was his expertise. "Too much power too fast," he'd been told by the Magesterium masters frequently. At the time he didn't see why multiple weaker spells were better than one big one, but right now he could actually see the benefit to their desire for his temperance.

"I'll be careful," Shoto hissed back, not waiting on another argument before activating the spell.

It came in a violet light, dull across her body. He fought to keep it somewhat weak, but his magic wanted to pour like a busted floodgate. The instant it felt out of his control, he cut off the spell. He only hoped it was enough.

The two blond males watching closely held their breaths until Nana took a deep inhale and lifted her head. Shoto fell back on his ass beside her, winded and shaking away a dizzy head now that his adrenaline was drained and his actions were free to weigh heavily on him. His vision suddenly blurred out and his equilibrium vanished.

He didn't realize when it happened, but after a few blinks Shoto opened his eyes to find Katsuki shockingly close, pissy as ever, but making sure the mage hadn't killed himself. Fingers pressed to his throat and his sharp red gaze observed the fog of Shoto's mismatched pair. It was shocking enough for Shoto to jerk back and hit his hand away, glare meeting glare before Katsuki stood and shook his head.

"You're fucking fine," he huffed, "Shake it off, mage."

"You guys look awful," Denki commented just as Mina appeared through the trees with a pack on her back and multiple bundled items in her arms.

There was no complaint from Katsuki this time when the elves passed around a couple more flasks of water to each of them and placed a blanket around Nana's shoulders. It was hard for the Captain to complain when his throat was being quenched for the first time in many long, grueling hours. The elves shared some food rations as well, but Katsuki refused that, still too wary of the elves.

With Nana's fever so quickly broken, she was more alive that she had been before and voiced the gratitude that the other two weren't willing to offer when Denki crouched beside her to drape the blanket around her shoulders. He got comfortable at her side and, after she'd put some food on her stomach, searched her drawn face and then the faces of her companions.

"What happened to you three?" he asked as Mina sat down close to the fire on the other side of Shoto still hungrily wolfing down a ration of dried meat and glaring at Katsuki.

"We were at the fronts," Nana said somberly.

"Really?" Mina gasped, "We were headed there to do some scavenging! Is it that bad?"

"Scavenging?" Katsuki's nostrils flared at her.

"It's a living," Denki crossed his arms, "It's not like the dead need that stuff anymore."

Katsuki sucked his teeth, shaking his head at the elves, obviously disdainful of them, but not saying anything further.

"What happened there?" Denki directed the question to Nana this time.

She pointedly met Shoto's eyes for a moment, getting a wince from the younger mage.

"Too much," she said, "Everyone is dead...except us."

"You were involved in the fighting?" Denki sounded disbelieving, "I thought you were an outcast here or something. Why would they send you to fight demons, don't they try to kill mages like you?"

Shoto pulled into himself, feeling the words were somewhat accusing, aware that he was one of those mages who was meant to kill mages like her.

"A lot has happened since I left Solen, Denki," Nana patted his arm, "Obviously...I mean, you're hardly a child anymore."

Denki chuckled and settled down comfortably next to her. "Tell that to my father."

"Hmph," Mina rolled her eyes over a bite of food.

"What happened," Denki returned his attention to her, "Where's-"

"Toran is dead," Nana said darkly, her mouth a tight line.

Denki's curious expression fell to nothing, his knees pulling up. "Oh. H-how?"

"By leaving Solen," she stared hard at the ground, "By doing like you and coming where it's dangerous to be a Solstice elf, much less be a magic user. Your ideologies don't match this world. As long as you're here, be grateful you never learned magic. The Synod would kill you sooner than check your lineage."

"That's not…" Shoto caught himself from arguing, from biting back against the things she was telling Denki. He was torn on which side he really was taking in this anymore, but his instincts told him to repeat the same drabble he'd told himself and others for years. It didn't mean it was wrong and it didn't mean it was right, but now wasn't the time to be debating Synod policies.

Nana seemed to notice the sensitive spot she'd struck in Shoto, though, and changed the direction of what she was saying. She took the young elf's hand as tightly as her weary fingers could and gave a sad smile to Denki.

"I miss him," she said, "I miss all of them. It was my fault...I've been trying to make up for that for a long time. I learned things that would make your father very disappointed in me over my years of trying to fix things. I came here to end this war, to sacrifice myself in the attempt if I had to. But I failed again and the encampment was overrun. We barely got away with our lives."

"What sort of things did you learn?" Denki eyed her sidelong.

"Blood Magic," Shoto filled in, eyes locked on the licking flames of the fire, feeling his own stomach turn at what those words meant for him specifically.

Mina stopped chewing and Denki bristled.

"Nana…"

"I've never killed a man to use it," Nana scowled, "I've hurt myself using it more than any other living person so don't go looking at me like that. You haven't fought these Demons, seen this Archdemon...it can't be beaten the usual way."

"Some Moondancers use Blood Magic," Mina commented, tilting her head at Denki's disapproving, sour face.

"Well you're a bunch of heathens so that's not really an endorsement," he crossed his arms at her.

The girl didn't give any sort of defense to being called a heathen, just shrugged, not disagreeing, and quite not caring.

Shoto didn't know much about elf cultures and it was confusing to watch these two. There were plenty of elves in the Magesterium, but everyone was raised the same there, no one had any culture outside of the one they all lived in. They studied the integrated elves, the ones that lived in human cities and intermingled, but the Tribes were a different matter. Solstice, Moondance, Twilight, Suncast, and Daybreaker Elves lived outside of Gaetha, out of the reach of the Synod's authority. They briefly overviewed them, but the main commentary on them was that they were unimportant, like the Bog Mages. Primitive and not worth the Synod's attention and higher goals.

"We have to stop the Summoner," Nana went on heedlessly, "It has to be Blood Magic. There's no other way and we're out of options. I've gained us time at the front, it's sealed off, but only for so long. You should leave Gaetha, Denki. If we fail then this entire country will fall and the world around it will follow."

Denki frowned thinking about what she was saying. "Well you're not leaving...neither are they…"

"We have to," she said, "We're the only ones who can fix this. The only ones willing. I have to face the Archdemon and repair this. I devoted my life to protecting the innocent after I lost them and I will do whatever I have to to see that through. To honor their lives through my actions."

Denki nodded to himself. "That's really beautiful, Nana, and I appreciate that you want to honor Toran like that, even if I don't like the idea of you getting yourself killed to do it. But what about them? Why are they so keen on risking life and limb to fight an Archdemon?"

Katsuki leaned back onto the ground, one knee propped up, sliding an arm under his head. He glared at the stars. "It's my duty…" was his only response.

The pink toned elf raised an eyebrow at the sulky form and shrugged at Denki.

"What about you?" she asked Shoto, "What makes you want to fight Demons? Is it your duty too?"

Shoto scowled at his feet, unsure how to answer. He didn't have a heart of gold with a destiny that drove him to help others. He wasn't compelled by a strong sense of duty to follow his role to its end; if he were to have been dutiful to the Synod he'd have killed Nana from the start and stayed his ground to his inevitable death at the encampment. He knew the reason, somewhere deep down, but he didn't want to say it, didn't like complete strangers or even someone he was growing fond of like Nana, knowing that part of it.

"I'm a battle mage," he fabricated his reasoning, "We fight demons. It's our job."

Katsuki scoffed. "You did a great job of that," he snipped sarcastically, "How many mages were in your cohort again? Thirty? All dead in the first battle except for you. And you're alive because, why exactly was that again?"

Shoto's face heated up, fists clenching in his lap.

"Because Nana fought two demons for you the first time and because you ran away the second time." It sounded both bitter and snide

Shoto could feel his fingers tingling with the need to conjure a volley of pointed ice shards at his pissy mug. "And you've conveniently forgotten that it's the only reason you're alive."

The two elves exchanged looks at the two heated boys and then shrugged to each other as Nana shook her head wearily.

"How we got here doesn't matter," she sighed, "where we're going does. We just need to get to Dawnsend, get supplies and a Honing Stone from their Synod Stationmaster so we can get this damned all mission started and find the Summoner."

"How are we supposed to get that?" Katsuki shifted to look at her, "I'm not a mage, they won't give it to me, it doesn't matter what my rank is. The Synod doesn't respect military authority in their own houses. And no one in Dawnsend is going to back the quest of a Blood Mage, no matter how unhappy they are with the Synod, so forget trying to use my military connections there."

"I can get it," Shoto spoke with more confidence than he felt, "They won't know me. I went straight to the encampment from the Magesterium without stopping in Dawnsend. Maybe I can convince them I'm a Master or something."

"You're one of the Synod mages?" Mina looked him up and down closely, leaning back a bit warily.

"It's sort of complicated…" Nana leaned heavy on Denki, relaxed now, but still very tired.

"Not really," Shoto shook his head, "I'm still a Synod Mage when all this over and done with and I still am now. I'm acknowledging the laws I'm breaking and the punishment I'm encurring just like the Captain is. I won't be Fallen like you...even if I have to do the things they do."

A glance in her direction showed the disappointment she was failing to hide, but she didn't say anything to it. Instead she addressed his plan.

"You getting the Stone is all good and fine, Shoto, but how will you convince them you're a Master," she said, "You're young, your clothes are covered in blood and dirt, and your robes aren't Master's. Your staff is the real deal at least, but that won't be enough."

Denki tapped his lip. "We might be able to help with that."

A grin spread over Mina's mouth.

"How?" Katsuki was the one to question.

"We're not always so clumsy about our thievery," Denki winked at him, "We can swipe you anything you need or find someone skeevy enough to trade it."

"Denki, I don't want you getting involved with this," Nana pleaded, "It's dangerous to be close to this situation. Not just finding the Summoner and fighting the Archdemon. I'm a renegade and if I'm caught by the Synod my life is forfeit as is anyone's who aids me."

"But you're still going to Dawnsend with the grumpy humans?" Denki raised an eyebrow at her, "Look I don't have anything better to do for the remainder of my banishment, I might as well help out the only family that still wants anything to do with me, right?"

"Hey!" Mina grumbled.

Denki's arm went up at her in some example that Shoto didn't understand. "We're not bonded, shove off."

"With an attitude like that I remember why," she appealed to the moon.

He shook his head, "Come on, Mina, you know what I mean."

Nana patted the elf's shoulder fondly, tapping the top of her head to his. "I get the feeling you're not going to take no for an answer, are you, Little Spark?"

Denki shoved her and snickered a fond scoff "Ugh, you sound like Toran."

Nana chuckled fondly, but sadly, before lying back slowly. "That's not a bad thing."

"So the elves are coming with us?" Katsuki groaned.

"It would seem so," Shoto turned one side of his mouth down as Denki walked around to drop next to Mina and pull out another blanket. He tossed it over to Shoto and he caught it with a surprised raise of his eyebrows. "What's this?"

"Sorry we only have two," Denki brushed away the twigs on the ground, "I wasn't going to give it to Captain Pisswad over there and you look half as bad as Nana so…"

"But don't you need them?" Shoto didn't understand the gesture or the reasoning.

"Not really," the girl elf smirked.

Denki shoved the pack up and laid his head down on it, grabbing the Moondance elf and tugging her into his chest. She was squirmy as she wrapped in close to him, sliding their legs together and getting comfortable.

Shoto's cheeks burst with heat to watch them act that way so blatantly and out in the open. Nana's eyes were already closed and Katsuki couldn't seem to care, which left Shoto the only one red faced and staring at the far too intimate pair of elves. He wanted to believe it was just an elf thing to be so carelessly affectionate, but he knew elves in the Magesterium and their instincts were like most other mages. Attractions sprung up among youthful mages the same it did among any other group of teenagers, especially in the little families that formed behind the walls of the Magesterium, but public displays of any affection were strictly looked down on, even if the Masters knew what was happening behind closed doors.

Shoto had never had a problem with it, other than that one time Izuku got too excited and tried to hug him and they both got their knuckles bruised for it. The green eyed boy figured out how to keep his enthusiasm bottled up and expressed only in private after that, which was still a hell and a half for Shoto to fight off.

Settling in under the blanket, Shoto couldn't stop himself from continuing to just watch them. Their eyes closed and their breathing slowed. Mina's hand was tangled in Denki's yellow hair and their legs were slotted together like puzzle pieces as they snuggled chest to chest. It hollowed something out in his sternum while it also grated over his skin. So inappropriate...but so intriguing to watch.

He had to shake his head and roll over to get it out of his head, to focus on anything else as he tried to let his weariness take over again. But he should have known better than to so flippantly turn away a distraction. The slightest leeway in his tired mind brought back the Archdemon, the ebbing pulse of the ether swallowing him in and the ever flesh rending horror of dying screams and ripping flesh.

Not even the Captain's restlessness could comfort him this time. His body would likely glean some rest from lying still until dawn, but his mind would panic and haunt him through the night.


	8. Tales of Mages and Dragons

"Stay with me apprentice! Try to stay still, it won't be long!"

Izuku didn't comprehend much, but he knew for damn certain that staying "still" was not going to happen. How could he stay still when his entire world was a tumulting, turbulence-filled ride?

This wasn't how he imagined his first time riding a dragon. He didn't think he'd ever ride a dragon, but in those most wild fantasies of adventuring and dragon riding he had never imagined the part where he had multiple gaping wounds threatening his every second left in the land of the living as a renegade mage held onto him from behind and administering just enough healing magic to keep his insides from pouring out of him.

He expelled his lunch three times from the pain and the ride that was rougher than a ship at sea. It wasn't Red's fault, he'd been injured too. Ochako used her magic on him first after making sure Izuku wouldn't immediately die. But she only had so much power in her stores and to heal Red enough to fly and Izuku enough to stay alive was all she could really handle.

If he'd been lucid he'd have wondered why she was healing him at all, why she hadn't resolved her problem right then and there and let him bleed out in the forest. But all he understood was how uncomfortable he was and how much wracking pain was shooting through his body. He faded in and out a lot, but every time his head slumped Ochako was shaking him awake again. Her voice was going hoarse and the sound of Red's trilling calls were becoming weary too.

Izuku didn't remember much past the pain by the time the dragon's feet hit ground. And he only remembered that because of how roughly they landed. The unhappy sound that rumbled from the dragon's throat told of his own exhaustion and pain as the two mages on his back fell hard to the ground and Izuku cried out. Everything fogged over again, but he felt hands on him and more voices, human ones. They were frantic, loud, but unintelligible. He saw blurred faces when he opened his eyes, but he was feverish and couldn't trust his sight.

He was moved around and touched a lot, but somehow his back fell into a stiff bed and with an easing green light filling what little his eyes could see and somehow the pain stopped. His panic settled, his tight chest relaxed and in time his fever broke. He passed out the moment his body allowed him.

Time was amorphous. He didn't dream for a long time, but eventually his steadily clarifying mind started to drag his conscious worries into his sleep. It was reason enough to stir himself awake.

Izuku had never felt so stiff in his life and he groaned on his tight muscles as he shifted and forced his eyes open. His intent was to ease awake and get his bearings, but as blinked into the dim light he couldn't even see his surroundings, just the far too close, wide blown red eyes of the boy who'd turned into a dragon.

Izuku startled and jerked back, grabbing his torso as he did when searing pain burst over his body. He suddenly remembered why he'd been so still up until now.

"Agh! Shit!" Izuku groaned, but continued to shift back carefully from the exuberant boy at his bedside now scampering to his feet.

"He's awake!" he yelled to seemingly no one, "I think he's alright! Ochako, he's awake!"

"What is-?"

Izuku's sentence didn't finish, because the next moment brought the brown haired young mage bursting through the door of the small room that he could now see fully. It was lined wall to wall with potions and books and herbs and lit only by a couple flickering lanterns. It reminded him of the healing rooms at the Magesterium, but smaller and less refined in its method.

Ochako and Red were both at his bedside in an instant as a third person entered the room purposefully. She was a small, cute thing, perhaps a bit older than Izuku, with big green eyes that scanned the room in thought before grabbing a few items from the shelves and joining the others at his beside.

"You're okay?" Ochako looked him up and down, seemingly wowed, "It's hard to believe. You were in such a terrible state when we got you here I was certain you'd die!"

"He still looks awful though," Red shook his head at the stunned mage, staring baffled at the people surrounding him, wondering why they weren't trying to kill him anymore.

"Back up, please," the dark haired girl demanded, shoving aside the other two. She dropped into a seat on the edge of the bed and placed her wrist against Izuku's forehead. He tried to pull away from her, but she held him in place and forced him to let her check his temperature.

"Who… What…" Izuku couldn't decide on a question. He had a thousand. He always had a thousand questions, but this time they were all extremely relevant.

"Be still please," the girl said, putting her items on the table beside his bed. She then started pulling up at the bottom of the shirt and he realized he didn't remember putting on this or the pants he was wearing. He really didn't want to think about that.

But he did panic at the way the girl he didn't even know was practically undressing him in front of people he'd been in a fight with not long ago and hurriedly shoved her hands away, shaking his head.

"Wait, who are you?" he asked, "What are you doing?"

The girl smiled, the shape of her mouth making it look crooked. "I'm checking your wounds," she explained, heedlessly shoving his hands away and continuing to pull up his clothing to expose his chest and the multiple bandages strewn across it. "And my name is Tsu, I'm an apothecary."

That didn't quite explain anything, but he wasn't dead yet and it seemed to be because of this woman so he hesitantly stopped trying to keep her from checking the wounds. She undid the bandages one by one to see the wounds beneath and Izuku felt his stomach churn as he looked down. The sight was nightmarish. His eyes pinched up rather than see the wounds, half-close as his flesh itself seemed to be reforming itself in each place he'd been practically impaled.

"An-an apothecary?" Izuku asked, more to get his mind away from the sight of his own body than anything, "Doesn't that just mean you make poisons and medicines?"

"Apothecaries do a lot more than combine herbs here," Tsu said, tilting her head at a particularly horrible looking bit of flesh low on his belly, running her index finger against the muscles.

"Here?" he grimaced at the touch, but looked around himself confused.

"Blackmoss," Red filled in, moving around to the end of the bed, smiling big sharp teeth at Izuku, "There wasn't much Ochako could do for you after she sent that Demon soaring," he made a swooping motion through the air with his arm, "and we needed help so we came here. We couldn't bring you to your Synod friends because they would have hurt us, so we had to go to our friends instead."

"Blackmoss?" Izuku repeated the name, wincing on the delicate prodding of the girl's finger. He had to think for a good ten seconds on why that name sounded familiar before it hit him like a ton of bricks. The last book he'd been reading at the Center Magesterium had mentioned Blackmoss. It was outside of Gaetha, outside of Synod touch, just past the borderlands near Tarlson, a three day ride on horseback from where they left, but a short flight on a dragon's back. But the geography was not what had stuck with him about Blackmoss.

"Bog Mages?" his brow tightened on the green eyed girl, his heart doing a little flutter of excitement. He shouldn't have been excited since it meant he was out of Synod jurisdiction and in the midst of heathens, but the Synod taught very little about the Bog Mages at the Magesteriums and his curiosity on them had recently been peaked.

Tsu nodded and got a thumb-full of an ointment off of the side table, touching each wound with a generous amount of it. "Is that going to be a problem?" she asked tightly, even as she tended to him.

Izuku swallowed and shook his head, searching each of the faces in front of him. "No...I, well, I'm very grateful. I'm just surprised is all. Why did you save me? You were going to kill me before. Wouldn't leaving me there have solved your problem…"

Ochako crossed her arms tightly and frowned at the ground, shifting. "Look I don't know if your completely trustworthy, but...well you didn't have to save Red's life. You could just have easily used that situation as a means to get away or kill us."

Red grinned wide, nodding his agreement, "I'm really grateful, apprentice. I really do owe you my life. I knew you were a nice mage."

Izuku half chuckled and then regretted it with the ache in his muscles.

"You don't owe me anything," he grimaced at the discomfort of Tsu's attention, "You saved my life right back so we'll call it even. And my name is Izuku, not Apprentice."

"That's a much better name than Apprentice," Red laughed, "My name's Eijiro and this is Ochako."

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "I thought your name was Red?"

The boy rolled his eyes. "No, that's what Ochako calls me, because I'm red." He gestured over himself in example.

"I guess that makes sense," Izuku shook his head and squirmed that what Tsu was doing was beginning to hurt more than cause discomfort.

"Hold still," she ordered, pulling him back down flat by his arm.

Ochako shrugged and moved close to Red's side - Eijiro's side. She took his arm and tugged lightly, jerking her head away with a little smile.

"I think we need to leave him alone for a bit," Ochako said, reading Izuku's discomfort and the pinched look on his face, "Tsu has work to do and Izuku needs to rest."

Eijiro looked disappointed, but nodded. He threw a thumbs up and a grin to the patient. "Good luck, Izuku! You'll feel better soon!"

Ochako smiled softly up at him and pulled him along to leave.

"Ochako?" Izuku's strained voice caught her in her steps.

She looked back at him and blinked surprise. "Yeah?"

He hissed as Tsu held her hands open over the many wounds across his body and pale light started to form over him. His could feel his flesh moving under the spell and twist and restrict itself and grow. It was one of the strangest feelings he'd ever experienced, but he really wanted to say it before they disappeared.

"Th-thank you," he swallowed around the pain, "I meant it when I said I didn't want to hurt you. You're-you're a good person."

Her mouth tugged upward, maybe even a bit smuggly. She gave him a quick nod and then they left.

The rest of the day proceeded with Izuku coming in and out of sleep. Tsu was usually there when he woke up, ready to administer another treatment. He wanted to dislike her since every time he saw her he was put into more pain, wrapped up in bandages and then unwrapped. He didn't like the free reign she had on his body either, that he had no real privacy, that she had to attend to the wound in his thigh like she did the others and undress him past his comfort to do it. But everything she did to him helped to develop his strength and bring his body back closer to health. From the spells, to the potions, to the food she provided. And her attitude towards his nakedness was impartial, indifferent even, so that helped his embarrassment some, but he was still red faced every time. He still had his dignity after all.

After a while the treatments started to hurt less and the unpleasantness of waking to Tsu's face began to dissipate. The healing took a lot out of his own body each time it was encouraged to repair itself and he usually passed out after her work was done. Eventually he didn't find himself dozing off anymore when she finished. He tried to start conversation with her those times, wanting to ask about the Bog Mages and learn more about what sort of healing she did, but Tsu asked him to hold his questions until later, saything that she had other patients to see and work to do.

After one more good night's rest Izuku woke up feeling genuinely refreshed and, dare he say it, well. When he sat up he wasn't in pain and the shifting didn't make his body feel like it was falling apart. Izuku was thrilled and threw his legs over the side of the bed, smiling as he set his feet down and tried to stand.

But his legs weren't steady and the leg with the thigh wound wanted to slip underneath him. He fought for his balance, testing his weight and leaning heavy on the furniture around him. Across the room in a corner, his staff was leaning against a wall with a pile of clothing underneath. Izuku stumbled over to it.

He pulled the staff into the light and felt his stomach turn. There was blood all over it. Dried, old. With a shiver he shook past his horror and leaned on it while he grabbed the pile of clothing he recognized as his robes. He unfurled them and got a similar sense of disgust. They were coated in dried blood and ripped all over. If he looked close enough he'd likely have been able to match every rip with a scarred over wound on his body, but he threw it back down instead, shaking his head. The simple linen tunic and pants would do fine for the moment. It probably wouldn't do him any good to be walking around in Synod attire in a Bog Mage village anyway, especially not ones ripped and bloodied.

Izuku used the staff like a crutch and took this opportunity of finally feeling well to open the door and step out of the tiny room. He moved through the very simple house, covered wall to wall in herbs, bottles, potions, books, and a few living creatures in containers. He didn't see anyone else around so he shuffled through to its front door. He opened it up to morning light and he blinked harshly at it having been in that dark room for a long time. His eyes took a bit to adjust, but when they did, he looked out on a morning in Blackmoss.

Simplistic homes on stilts filled the quaint town, cut down the middle by a well trodden dirt road. Large mossy trees created forestion at the east of the town and pure swampland encompassed the rest, barely held at bay but the town's barrier walls. The smells were far from friendly and the air was laden thick with moisture, but there was a lively sound in the air. Croaking frogs, chirping birds and crickets. It was in the middle of the muck, a place no staunch nosed nobleman would ever set foot in, but Izuku was wide eyed at it, taking it in like he was viewing a mountain for the first time. It was so alive and the people didn't seem to have a problem with the smell or the stifling humidity or the presence of a stranger on their healer's front porch. The inhabitants strode through the town in their loose, breathable clothing and talked like it was any other pleasant spring day. A few even waved to Izuku to his confusion and surprise. He waved back uncertainly, wondering why people who didn't know him were greeting like they did, but greatly enjoying the gesture either way.

Across the street Tsu was chatting with her neighbor, a basket on her arm and a bounce in her legs like she couldn't quite stand still. She noticed Izuku after a moment and quickly dismissed herself to run back over to him, calm in the face, but not in her step. She slipped an arm under his shoulder and set his weight against her to support his shaky leg.

"What are you doing?" she asked, "You shouldn't be walking around yet."

"I feel great," Izuku shook his head at her, grounding himself against the way she tried to guide him back inside, "I just needed to see some sunlight. It's really dark in that house. You don't have any windows."

Tsu clicked her tongue. "They're not important," she hummed, "It's important that you keep resting, though."

"Can I just rest outside for a bit?" Izuku flashed big green eyes at her, "It's stifling, but at least there's sunshine. It's getting depressing in that room."

Tsu frowned. "My home isn't depressing...but fine, suit yourself. Sit on the steps and be still and I'll cook something to eat. And please give me the staff. It might alarm people."

He wasn't thrilled about the staff leaving his hands, but he didn't require it to perform magic so he let it go. Not only was it obviously a Synod staff, but it was coated in blood and he couldn't disagree with Tsu's observation that it was alarming to look at. She took it and helped him down into a seat on her front step.

"Thank you, Tsu," he smiled up at her. She nodded shortly and then went inside to cook.

Izuku settled in to the heat and opened his eyes observantly on his surroundings. He followed the people in their day to day, noted their strange clothing, reptile skin on their shoes and scraggly material for their shirts. He'd really only just started mentally cataloguing these things when Ochako came into his field of vision, waving at him on sight. He smiled her way, still amazed at how she'd been so ready to kill him such a short time ago.

"Wow, you really must be feeling better if you're outside," Ochako marveled at him, running up.

"I am," Izuku nodded, "But Tsu didn't want me wandering around so she made me agree to stay here. It's not like I can escape anyway." He tapped his thigh and winced at the irritation he had caused himself.

"You aren't a prisoner here," Ochako chuckled, "Bog Mages don't have any issue with the Synod. They live simply and stay out of trouble, but they're hospitable people. More than a few lost mages found direction with them, no matter what creed they followed. They'll treat you no differently"

"When I asked about the Bog Mages back at the Magesterium I was always told they were primitive and weren't worth our time," Izuku shook his head, "But I should be dead right now and I don't think the magic our mages use could have done what Tsu did."

Ochako shifted and shrugged. "Like I said, the Bog Mages stay out of trouble and keep a low profile. The Synod probably doesn't have any idea how strong they really are. They taught me most of my magic growing up. And Tsu is the greatest healer in the world. You're lucky she was able to get to you in time."

Izuku dropped his head in a sigh, contemplating a moment how close he'd come to death and again how incredible it was that he'd survived. He felt underneath his shirt on the strange feel of reformed flesh on his lower stomach.

"I've seriously never seen anything like this before," he looked back up at her, "Her magic is enviable. But she seems really humble, like she does it because she cares."

"She does, but she can be very strict," Ochako nodded, rubbing her head, "She's very serious about her patients and she rarely asks for anything in return. She's been checking in on Red every day since we got here even though she's been keeping you alive and practically running the village at the same time."

He glanced over the town and found himself doubly impressed. It was a friendly looking place, but just the chattering and interactions around them told him how chaotic it could easily get, much trouble and work it probably was to hold this place together. Tsu deserved more than a commendation.

But instead of commenting on that, he grabbed onto another part of what she said, thinking about the boy whose life he'd saved from the Demon, who'd been a barely moving mass under a heavy barrage the last time he'd seen him before waking up to his energetic face yesterday.

"How's he doing?" Izuku asked, scooting over a bit to make room for Ochako beside him. She hesitated at first, but took the risk and sat next to him, still keeping a good amount of space.

"He didn't look so good after that Demon hit him…" he added as she got comfortable.

"Really well," she nodded, "I was able to pull the broken bones back in place with magic while we were still in the forest. Poor thing, he was hurting so much, but he insisted that he fly us here to help you… He saw something in you before you even took that risk for him, so he was pretty adamant. I really didn't believe anything you said back in the woods until I saw you save him like that. It's stupid of me to think this, because you're a Synod Mage and your entire existence puts mine in jeopardy, but I think you're a good person and I think you want to do the right thing. It seems like you care about people, even when you shouldn't. It's not like the other mages."

Izuku smiled to himself. "It's funny you say that. I feel the same way about you. It seems stupid to think a renegade mage is anything but misguided and prone to corruption, but you seem like a good person too. Maybe both of us were taught wrong about each other."

The girl's eyes darkened. "I wasn't wrong about your friend."

Brown eyes met green tentatively, before Izuku lowered his head. "Yo wasn't my friend, he didn't like me at all to be honest. We were just assigned to do a mission together. There was no reason to behave like he did and I hate myself for saying it, but I'm not sad he's dead. Red-Eijiro- I don't really know which to call him now - well, he was right to kill him. Yo would have cut his head clean off with that attack and then he'd have hurt you. He was in charge so I wouldn't have been able to do anything to stop him. It's better for everyone that he's dead."

Ochako scrunched her nose like she was thinking about that future they had avoided and then shook it off, turning a curious stare at him.

"That's what I mean," Ochako said, "I lived in the real world, my magic hidden as it could be, and I've seen Synod Mages before. They don't speak badly about their own. Ever. Unless they're Fallen. I've never heard sympathy towards a mage who wasn't in the Synod. What they preach is scary. It doesn't sound like you. It doesn't match your personality."

"There are a lot of personalities in the Synod," Izuku smiled to himself, thinking about the people he grew up with, "Mages have to be serious people because of the burden of our power and the severity of what it means. It also helps in convincing the Masters that you're serious about devoting yourself to the Synod life of service and reparation. But we're all different. We're not all these blank slates that follow orders without thinking or horrible brutes that get off on other people's pain like Yo was. Koji was one of our most serious mages growing up, he felt so strongly about his life of service and being a perfect Magesterium student, but he had an absolute love for animals and he kept a little bunny hidden in his room for years. Hitoshi is super clever and lives for a good debate. And Shoto...well he actually fits the profile really well at a glance, but he has big aspirations. He's one of those people that wants to do something big and be remembered for it and if you can get past his cold shoulder he's actually a really caring person."

"You make them sound like people," Ochako cocked her head with a laugh.

Izuku smiled back. "Yeah. Crazy, right? But the Synod isn't meant to oppress mages, it's goal is save us."

Ochako's smile fell and she shifted away again, a wary glare on Izuku.

"I won't try to bring you in," Izuku rushed to assure her, "I owe you that much… I don't agree and I think you should be a part of the Synod, but I'm not going to force you. Things obviously aren't as simple as I grew up believing and I really do respect you. You acted selflessly in saving me and your magic is amazing! The way you got rid of the poison and then how you fought the Tempest Demon was just incredible!"

A dark blush spread over Ochako's face and she pulled into herself with a smile. But it didn't stop Izuku's gushing, he really was amazed by her and everything around him. He had the spirit of an explorer and a need for adventure, but had resigned himself to a life of study and magic cultivation until that mission was given to him. He never thought he'd be in a Bog Mage village or talking in a friendly way with a renegade mage. There was so much he could learn and so much he could experience. He couldn't even bother to fear the repercussions right now. They would be worth it, whatever they were.

"Seriously, you're fantastic Ochako," Izuku went on, "And Eijiro's magic is amazing too! I've been wondering a lot lately about shapeshifting magic because it's not taught in the Magesteriums. The most I thought I would ever see was maybe someone turning into a wolf, but an entire dragon!"

Ochako snorted when she laughed, shaking her head at him with bewildered eyes.

"Red doesn't turn into a dragon," she said, "He turns into a human."

Izuku's mouth was open to say something, but it got stuck. He didn't know what he was trying to ask. It was taking a while for his mind to wrap around that response.

"He-wait-what?" Izuku shook his head.

"He's a dragon," Ochako was laughing at Izuku now, "He hatched out of an egg. He's a flying reptile."

"But...he acts like a person," Izuku's head was a mess, dredging up every bit or history he could possibly remember being taught on dragons.

"What exactly do they teach at those Magesteriums?" Ochako controlled her amusement enough to explain, "Dragon's aren't mindless animals. They don't talk like we do, but they think and feel and understand. And if you teach them they can learn magic too. Easier than most people actually. Dragons are really in touch with the ether. That's how they talk to each other. They speak with their minds through their connection to the ether."

"Whoa," Izuku wished he had his notebook to be writing this down right now, "Has he ever talked to you using his mind?"

Ochako shook her head, "No, even mages aren't that in touch with the ether. But when we were younger one of the Bog Mages here used her animal speak spell to talk to him and he asked her to teach him how to shapeshift into a human. Once he figured out how to do it I couldn't shut him up for a week. All that time wishing our conversations weren't so one sided and suddenly all I wanted again was some silence."

She was smiling fondly at the memory and Izuku was in complete awe of it all. His entire image of Eijrio was so different now and he had a million questions for the boy...the dragon. But he was especially interested in how tenderly she talked about him.

"You really care about him a lot," Izuku said curiously, "Are you two like…?"

"He means the world to me," Ochako narrowed her eyes, "I'd kill for him. That's all you need to know."

"Point taken," Izuku gave a nervous laugh, not sure if he really wanted to consider the possibility of attraction between a human and a dragon of all things and understanding her threat well enough to let it go, "It's just… No one has even seen a Dragon in Gaetha since before either of us were even born. And yet he's here, blending in, and you somehow managed to befriend him."

"I rescued him," Ochako stood, dropping her boots into the mud beside the stairs, not trying to leave, but not comfortable sitting any longer. There was anger set into her eyes at her words, a very old hatred surfacing. "He'd have been a shredded pile of flesh and scales if it weren't for me. And for nothing more than some sick laughs and a few coins…"

Her teeth were grit and Izuku could feel the bitterness flowing off of her. Whatever situation she'd rescued the dragon-boy from was obviously something she held an unimaginable resentment towards. She looked ready to fume about it, to vent, but nothing further was said when the shaking of the sloppy ground whipped a smile back across Ochako's face in a split second.

The massive, red scaled head of the dragon in question came into view from the swamplands. He stepped onto the solid ground dripping in mud and moss and grime. His keen red eyes saw the instantly and excitement burst over his slit pupils. Not wasting a second, he loped over to them with energetic steps that rocked the small houses. The tremors knocked clay pots from porches and the large red beast received petulant shouts for the disruption that he didn't seem to notice.

He was much too big to just be traipsing through the village so carelessly, even if his wings were folded in close, so Ochako ran out into the road and attempted to stop him from shaking the town from its mucky, swampy foundations.

"Red, be careful!"

Red stopped suddenly in front of Tsu's house at her shout and his long neck craned back. If a mighty dragon could look sheepish, he definitely did. A chittering sort of rumble went up his throat as his head dropped down to her level and he nudged her with his snout. She stumbled back and shoved his head away.

"Where have you been, you're a mess?" she feigned a gag.

He snorted hot air that even Izuku could feel, over her, blowing her hair behind before dipping his head down and fluttering the frills on his head against her, depositing a hefty amount of muck on the girl. She screamed and swatted at him, but the Dragon was considerably larger than her and she didn't stand a chance.

In a mere moment she was as much a mess as Eijiro and the Dragon was laughing. Or doing something close to it. Short little huffs in his chest with bright eyes on the young mage. Ochako glared up at him and then kicked him in the leg. It did very little.

"Come down from there and fight me like a man," she chided, fists on hips.

Eijiro did the dragon version of a grin and gently lifted his paw to place it on top of Ochako and pin her on the ground. His head shook over her, again flicking mud everywhere, to which the neighbors voiced their complaints unheeded by the dragon once again.

Izuku smiled and watched with wonder, feeling like he was in some alternate world outside of reality. A place where people lived in houses on stilts and waved hello to strangers. Where a Synod Mage could sit among non-conforming mages and dragons weren't to be feared, but teased and played with like energetic puppies.

"Eijiro!" she barked, surprising Izuku that she actually used his name, "Stop! Let me up right this instant!"

The door behind Izuku opened and Tsu popped her head out at the mess in front of her house. She had no comment for the mud covered dragon or for how he was handling the girl under his paws.

"There's food inside, Izuku," she said and then shouted to the two scraping in the road, "Eijiro, Ochako! If you're hungry please clean up before coming into my house!"

Tsu put a hand under Izuku's arm to help him to his feet and he gripped onto her tightly when he put weight on his bad leg again. Still he continued to laugh lightly at the girl and the dragon while Tsu helped him inside.

"Tsu!" Ochako shouted, "You can't leave me like this! He's bigger than me!"

Tsu didn't even pause, just threw the door back behind her and helped Izuku to a chair by the table, the house now lit by a few lanterns, but still dim with its lack of windows.

"Do they act like that a lot?" Izuku asked.

"As long as I've known them," Tsu said plainly as she fixed him a plate, "Eijiro is very young and Ochako can be extremely immature at times. It usually ends up with him doing something like that or Ochako trying to scold him. We all learned to butt out a while ago."

The plate set in front of Izuku and he didn't wait more than a second to start wolfing down the fresh cooked meat and flat, warm bread. It was packed with flavor and spice he wasn't expecting. The food she'd given him before was bland and simple, but this had a lot of character, which seemed surprising for someone who put so little emotion into the things she said.

When he managed to slow down enough to breathe and drink something he noticed Tsu sit down across from him with her own food and a book of medicines, instantly pouring into the words and flipping through pages, like she was looking for something specific.

"He doesn't seem that young," Izuku observed.

"What?"

"Eijiro," he tried again, "He doesn't seem that much younger than me or Ochako or you for that matter."

At the inquiry, Tsu stood and walked to a shelf full of books, rifling through them a moment before selecting one and coming back to the table. She flipped through it until she came to a page with a scaled drawing and turned it to Izuku. It showed six very minimalistic images of dragons with numbers underneath and the silhouette of humans beside each different sized creature, scaled up from smallest to largest.

Tsu pointed to the third image on the scale.

"That's how big Eijiro is now," she said and slid down to the number beneath, "He's only about twenty years old. The first ten years is when a dragon grows the most, but they aren't considered adults until they reach about forty and then they still grow until they reach fifty to sixty years old."

She slid her finger to the last image and Izuku's eyes bulged to see how small the human pictured beside it looked.

"He's going to get very big," Tsu nodded, "And then dragons live on for nearly a hundred years after they reach adulthood."

She pulled back to take a bite of her food and flipped her medicine book back open. "Still very young," she concluded.

Izuku pulled the book in and thumbed through a couple more pages. It was an entire tome on dragons and their anatomy. The mage was bouncing in his chair in pure excitement

"Can I read this?" he asked.

Tsu glanced up and nodded. "Knowledge isn't something we covet here," she said, "You can read anything you like, though a lot of my books are herbological texts and anatomy diagrams. I don't want you to leave until I'm certain you've healed completely, so make yourself at home. Just forgive me if I'm not quick to answer questions, I have a lot to take care of here. I'm the only apothecary in the Bog."

He nodded in understanding, excited that he'd get some time to devour this book on dragons with a real dragon outside of the front door as well as access to any other books he could find in her house. Maybe something on shapeshifting like he wanted to learn about with Master Shota. Or other secrets of Bog Magic. He wouldn't let this opportunity go to waste.

A thrilling prospect, but as much as anything, a distraction.

Anything to keep his mind away from the bigger issues. Anything to enjoy this time while he had it and not think about what he was going to say when he got back to the Magesterium. How he would explain that Yo was dead and that he'd failed to capture the renegade mage or about a Tempest Demon in the woods outside of Tarlson and what that might mean.

He'd have to disavow ever knowing any of these people when he got back to the Center Mageterium if he wanted to stay clear of punishment, but for now he was simply going to relish his time with this new experience and his new friends for as long as he could still call them friends.

It was amazing what a good night's sleep and food on the belly could do to a couple of worn out mages. Nana had an energy similar to how he'd seen her at the encampment when Shoto had released her, strong and take-charge. Shoto was more like himself too, just the straight lipped little pissant that Katsuki had grown to hate.

The elves greeted the day with spirit and energy and had the absolute gall to speak to Katsuki in the light of day. It was hard to believe someone as composed and dignified - for a fucking Fallen Mageanyway - as Nana, would associate with such a half-brained cockbite as Denki, even if they were somehow related as the elf indicated. Katsuki generally had had positive experiences with elves. They were usually very skilled and didn't require him repeating orders. But not this elf. He looked like he'd be distracted by his own shadow. Katsuki just hoped he'd earn his keep and stick to his word when they got to Dawnsend.

The girl had put up a fair enough fight for him not to hate her as much as the halfwit, but even she was far too spy in the morning for him to respect her. He hated to admit it, but Shoto was the only one with the proper attitude right now. This was serious. The world was at stake and they were trusting a Fallen Mage with their salvation. A thousand men had breathed their last the night before. This wasn't the time to greet the day with positivity.

The road to Dawnsend was luckily pretty straightforward, but Denki insisted on leading the way. The pink elf girl stayed near him, but still watched Katsuki very cautiously. He had no qualms admitting that he liked knowing he'd registered the proper amount of fear in her and he was prepared to reinforce it if need be.

Luckily it was Shoto that the two chipper elves were assaulting at the front of their party with their constant yammering and giving Katsuki ample leeway to avoid them. Which also meant that Nana was the one walking beside him. She didn't need support anymore, but he didn't trust that her strength was back as fully as she claimed. Someone needed to stick close to her in case she collapsed again so apparently that was on him.

"Are you alright, Captain?" Nana filled the void between them with her pointless concern.

"I'm fine," he bit, "Don't waste air with stupid questions."

"After what we've been through it's not a stupid question," Nana said, "I want to make sure you're stable and ready for what's coming. I can't have the people with me falling apart when the hard parts come."

Katsuki cut the air with his breath. "That was the hard part. Nothing that could possibly happen now can be worse than that."

Failure weighed so heavy on his chest that he wanted to fall forward. The sounds that had broken the air, the clashing swords and dying screams, cutting off so suddenly, dying out to the sound of brambling undead...the horrible silence that meant there was no one left to keep fighting. The burden of knowing that in the short moments he had been away from his troops, everything had been lost and everyone, the Lord Commander and every lieutenant and every soldier that pissed themselves before the battle even began, was dead.

"There's an Archdemon in our world," Nana said bluntly, "It can always be worse than that."

Katsuki sucked his teeth and shook his head, breaking away from the regret and the pain and the fear. His shoulders squared confidently, resolved in his goal.

"I won't crack," he lifted his chin, "I'm not crippled so easily. But I don't think the same can be said for your little pet mage over there."

Nana blinked at Shoto a few times as he was trapped in a conversation with Denki and Mina about how elves didn't use the titles of uncles, aunts, and cousins. Far from interesting or worth Katsuki's time.

"I think you're underestimating him, Captain," Nana hummed, "He's a veritable well of untapped potential. And I believe that the Synod finds him dangerous. I can't think of a single reason a mage with that much power and such stringent devotion to their ideals would be dropped at the fronts without years of Battle Mage preparation at the Center Magesterium and full admission into the Synod's upper circle. It's as if they hoped a Demon would snap him in half and save them the trouble of getting rid of him."

"This isn't making me like him more," Katsuki sneered at the back of Shoto's two toned head, so annoying, perfectly split red and white, like a middle finger at nature.

"I trust him," Nana countered, "He has no reason to be on our side, yet here he is. He's risking everything just like you are."

Katsuki didn't like thinking about the consequences of this, of what he was really getting himself into. He was confident that this was the only way and his duty was compelling, but he knew his superiors wouldn't see it that way. There was no way he'd be able to explain to Lord Sorahiko that he had walked away from his post and joined a Blood Mage in her quest to save the world. He could expect a court martial at best.

The Captain crossed his arms. "Fine, so he's risking life and limb," he grumbled, "He doesn't have the attitude of someone who just wants to help people. He doesn't act like you. He's just like every other damn Synod Mage I've ever met; cold bastards with superiority complexes. I've never met a mage I didn't want to punch in the face."

Nana was quiet for a moment before smiling sidelong at Katsuki. "I'm curious about something, Captain and maybe you can help me figure it out. Have you ever been to a Magesterium?"

"Like I'd choose to surround myself with more mages," Katsuki shivered at the thought and then rolled his eyes at her, "Are you going to tell me they're just misunderstood and have hearts of gold?"

Nana laughed very vocally. "I have a worse opinion on the Synod than anyone, don't make me laugh. Every Synod Mage I've met fits exactly to what you just said. They mindlessly follow and die for their ideals and treat the world coldly, but they do come by it honestly."

She watched Shoto closely while something dark came over her eyes, the younger mage oblivious to their conversation.

"The first thing the Synod takes from a mage is family. Not a single mage in the entire Synod could tell you their own lineage. They belong to the Synod for life. Family names are stripped and all connection ends. Families don't say their child is a mage. They say that they do not have a child at all, all for some foolish idea of some attainable salvation. I've heard plenty about young mages forming families in their Magesteriums, children trying to cling to some closeness they will never have from their guardians. They are cold children growing up in a cold world."

"It's pathetic," Katsuki pursed his mouth, "Clinging to a made up family..."

"You're a soldier," Nana raised an eyebrow at him, "You aren't going to tell me that the people you trained with didn't become your brethren, that your military family didn't become more of a family than your actual family over time?"

Katsuki huffed, but said nothing.

"There is something strange about him, though," Nana frowned thoughtfully at Shoto as he swatted Denki's hand away from the scars on his face, "When mages form those families they usually take a family name, to connect them to each other even when they get seperated. Some just take family names for the sake of feeling like they came from somewhere, and even the most serious and highest ranking mages have that in common…"

Katsuki's frown was filled with confusion on Shoto and then Nana. "Yeah, but he doesn't have a family name."

"That's my point," Nana shrugged, "I think it says more about him than I ever could, good or bad. It struck my curiosity...I thought maybe it had struck yours as well. Either way, it's something to think about."

Biting his cheek, Katsuki shook his head at her, but she was already nonchalantly moving on from their digression, looking over the countryside with a hum and a pleasant smile.

It was an unsettling thought, an idea that had him staring hard at the back of Shoto's head, wondering what sort of a sick fuck he really was, what ill intentions lay under his stoney exterior. But now wasn't the time and Katsuki decided after a moment not to think about it. He chose to turn his attention to more constructive outlets, such as figuring out what to do when they reached Dawnsend, what he was going to say, how he was going to explain himself.

Before evening even began to strike the horizon, the Keep of Dawnsend and the sprawling town below opened before their path. A collective sigh spread around the group, but Katsuki tensed. His words would need to be careful and planned from here out.

He got the others to agree to let him lead and for them to stay silent as they approached the gates city gates. The guards were shocked to see Captain Katsuki Bakugo on foot and in the company of unfamiliar faces, but they didn't hesitate in opening the gates to the man considered to be the fiercest, most formidable warrior of Dawnfell.

As soon as they made it inside the Lieutenant stationed at the wall barraged Katsuki with questions, sequestering them at his station to interrogate what had brought him here and who he had come with. Katsuki mingled the truth with a few white lies, but he was so trusted in Dawnsend that he could have told the Lieutenant that purple unicorns killed a Demon and these fuckers would have believed him.

"The encampment fell," Katsuki reported to him, fighting not to let the words stick in his throat, "The Lord Commander is dead. These people," he wanted to bite his own tongue for the endorsement he was about to give, "got me out of there alive to warn Lord Sorahiko that our defenses fell. We're all that's left of the army."

The Lieutenant was in shambles at the report, stifled a good minute but the crushing reality of their loss before pulling himself together enough to make decisions. "I'll-I'll send word to the Lord and his family immediately...we have to rally...we have to warn everyone…"

"You'll do no such thing!" Katsuki barked, "The Demon army will be held back long enough for the Tarlson reinforcements to get there. If we start a panic Dawnsend will collapse in on itself. Tell no one but the Lord of this or that we're here. I'll speak to him directly."

The Lieutenant snapped to his duty, rushing to follow Katsuki's orders. He got a few impressed looks from the elves and mages as the Lieutenant dashed from the station to prepare for Katsuki to speak to the Lord of Dawnfell.

"I guess I was right to save your life," Nana chuckled, nodding gratitude towards him, "You're already proving yourself incredibly useful."

"Must be nice for people to just listen to you," Denki crossed his arms both indignant and impressed.

"You just don't have the right assets for it." Mina smirked and gave her sizable chest a few taps.

Katsuki grumbled and ignored them as Nana demanded them to both keep civil tongues while in the guard station. She understood how tentative her position was, how easily her life and every life with her could be forfeit if anyone got a whiff of what she was. It was a time for them all to keep their mouths shut and let Katsuki do the talking. It was already suspicious enough for a Captain of Dawnfell to have returned from battle in the company of rogue elves and mages rather than his own troops.

When the Lieutenant returned he handed Katsuki a letter, just a formality, but it was a guarantee that all five of them were vouched for. Along with the letter, took a hooded jacket from the Lieutenant, not wanting to call attention to himself in Dawnsend where he would be recognized easily. The others would be fine, despite the layers of grime and blood matting the mage's robes. It just looked like muck now and it wasn't as alarming as the people of Dawnsend seeing the return of their Captain without an army at his back or the Lord Commander at his side.

With little further interaction with the guard, they left the station just behind the Lieutenant's messenger, but stopped in a huddle once they were out of the watchful sight of the guard.

Katsuki guided them to a rather raucous pub not far into the town. The gathered at its side to discuss the plan. Or rather, for Katsuki to tell them the plan.

"You two need to stay here," he demanded before they'd even fully stopp, pointing at the two mages and then to the swinging sign over the pub's door. /Flagons and Dragons/. Terribly titled, but a memorable spot from his first years stationed in Dawnsend. Many drunken nights, wasted hours, and thankfully fruitless pursuits.

"But we need to get the Honing Stone," Shoto argued, fingers flexing around his staff.

"Well you can't do that until we get you a convincing look," Mina countered, "Also you're both kind of gross, so maybe you should get a room and clean up…"

Nana and Shoto looked at themselves and then each other. Katsuki wasn't much different. Mud matted his clothing up to his thighs and the stench of blood and death and sweat poured from his unwashed body. Nana was a bit worse, having practically lived in a mud pit for days on end before the battle had even begun, but they had all gone from bloody battle to sleeping in the dirt and they all looked like it.

"That's probably a good idea," Nana agreed, getting a scowl from the younger mage and a smug look from Katsuki, "I will need to make sure I have my strength back completely before trying to using a Honing Stone and Shoto won't quite look to part of a Synod Master if his face is covered in mud."

Denki clapped, smiling and elbowing Mina, "Great then we'll get to it…"

"What exactly are you going to do?" Shoto asked narrowly.

The elf boy opened his arms, grinning. "Just going to talk to some good friends and make a few deals. Nothing to worry your muddy little head about."

Shoto blinked at him, but couldn't seem to find a response to that.

Katsuki didn't care for the idea of trusting something like this to those two skeevy elves, but they were scampering off on their featherlight feet before he could inquire further about their planned deviancies. He'd have yelled after them, but he had to keep a low profile, especially at a spot like this where he was known to frequent.

"Just go ask for a couple rooms," Katsuki tugged the hood closer to his face when he recognized a few people passing by, "The elf left you with money didn't he?"

Nana tapped the pouch Denki had given her, but cocked her head at the Captain. "What will you do?"

Katsuki clicked his canines together a few times like he was testing them. "I have to speak to the Lord. His son is dead. He should hear how it happened from me."

Nana nodded, lowering her eyes in understanding, but the little shit next to her just frowned at him.

"I thought you were keeping a low profile," he huffed, "If he knows you're here, he'll assign you another post or something. You won't be much good to us then."

It wasn't a bad point and that was the most annoying part about it. But he knew Lord Sorahiko well and he felt confident that not only was this the right thing to do, but that he could appeal to the Lord correctly to be able to continue this mission. Someone like Shoto wouldn't understand that though. A shitty mage like him didn't have the slightest clue what it was like to have mutual respect with a superior.

"Don't start fretting you dickweed," Katsuki sneered, "Just worry about your damn rock and leave handling Dawnfeldens to me."

Shoto's mouth opened to be a pissant again, but Nana cut them both off, taking Shoto's shoulder and encouraging him to follow her into the pub and leave Katsuki to his business.

With all of that out of the way Katsuki slipped away from the pub and made his way up through the center of town. He ran into no resistance from the guard except surprise and unwanted questions about what happened at the fronts. He gave the shortest and curtest responses he could and took the familiar trek through the keep to the war chambers of Lord Sorahiko.

The Lieutenant's messenger arrived before Katsuki as he expected it would. When the Lord entered the room, parchment in hand, Katsuki felt the very weight of its every word on his face..

Lord Sorahiko was an old man, a man who'd lived through many summonings and had outlived hundreds of the men who rode to war with him. But he never seemed like an old man until that moment, until he looked Katsuki in the face and knew without a shadow of a doubt that his son was dead, that Lord Kan would not be returning.

The Lord fell hard into his chair, face in his hands. "Did he at least die honorably, Katsuki?"

The Captain's throat tightened. He couldn't tell him that he wasn't even there. That he didn't know. That he wasn't at his Commander's side when their armies were overwhelmed. For the sake of the weary old man, learning that his favorite son was gone, he would simply have to lie.

"He held the hoard to his dying breath," Katsuki said, knowing that part wasn't a lie, that it's what the Lord Commander would have done, "He honored his family and he honored Dawnfell."

The words he'd said to Shoto days ago stabbed his mind. "There's no honor in death", he had said. He still believed it, but suddenly he didn't want to. For the man he respected so much he hoped beyond hope that there was truly some honor to be found in dying for the noble cause of protecting Dawnfell and Gaetha.

Katsuki went on to explain to the Lord that a Blood Mage had lifted a barrier at the encampment to hold the Demon army away; it was simply something he couldn't lie about. The approaching armies would discover that truth soon enough anyway, but to save his own skin he told the Lord that he killed the Blood Mage, that he'd done his duty. It burned him to lie about that. He knew that in the end letting the mage live was staying strongest to his oath, holding fast to his true duty as a Dawnfelden; to end Summonings and protect others from Demons. But to the onlooking eyes it would only translate to one thing: "traitor".

When the Lord finally heard the full report and had calmed himself enough to speak like the noble he was, he stood and placed a hand on Katsuki's shoulder. It was a fatherly hand, the sort Katsuki hadn't known since his childhood, since the last time he'd seen his own father. It felt wrong, like he was standing where Lord Kan should somehow, like he was taking something that didn't belong to him.

"Take some time to rest, Captain," he said, "You've seen too much...I've seen these things myself and they are not to be taken lightly. We will have to re-rally, form up our secondary forces. I need you back out there...you're the best Dawnfell has."

Katsuki grimaced. "I can't, my Lord."

Lord Sorahiko dropped his hand. "What do you mean?"

Katsuki grit his teeth. This was the hard part.

"I have something I have to do first," he said, "I can't lead your army until it's done."

The Lord was surprised, both hairy gray eyebrows raised. "You're turning down a promotion? An order?"

Katsuki clicked his teeth.

"Never. I'm asking for time. That mage said the barrier would hold a month...give me that much time and then I'll return, you'll need it to gather troops and train them anyway and you don't need me that."

There was skepticism painting the Lord's face, but he considered it. Katsuki didn't know what to expect from him, especially not after he had just received such devastating news, but the trust in the Lord's eyes said more than words possibly could.

"This is very irregular and I'd prefer an explanation," the Lord frowned, "But I know you too well to think you would ask for such a thing without good reason, Katsuki."

"I can't tell you what I need to do, but it's for Dawnfell, for all of us…" Katsuki said, "When I return I will tell you everything and you can do with me what you will, but for the sake of Dawnfell and the whole damn world you need to let me do this. We may be able to change the tide before it even comes to another fight."

Lord Sorahiko sat back again and shook his head, "And yet you refuse to tell me what this all important mission is."

Katsuki stiffened from his pinched eyes to his flexed feet, face directed to the floor. "If I told you you would stop me."

"Seems like all the more reason to make you tell me then," the lord huffed air through his nose and Katsuki braced himself for the order that he was certain would follow, the one that compelled him to tell everything or face consequences. But instead the Lord looked down at the already crumpled parchment, the report that told of his son's death, and swallowed hard.

"He trusted you and so do I," Lord Sorahiko sighed, blinking away a stray tear, "Even as a boy you impressed my family. You're more Dawnfelden than any man I've ever known and I've seen them all, Katsuki. If you say you have to do this then I trust you know what you're doing."

He turned to Katsuki, taken aback by the Lord's words. He inhaled deeply, filling his chest and straightening his shoulders, bolstered by the confidence that the Lord had in him.

"The rest of this war will be short, I promise you that," Katsuki lifted his nose, steeled and feeling strong again.

Lord Sorahiko nodded. "I expect you at the Dawnwest barracks ready to lead our march in one month on the mark. If you arrive even a moment late I'll have you court martialed and discharged, is that clear?"

Katsuki flashed his teeth, somewhere between a grin and a grimace, dropping his head in a bow and internally praying to every power that those damn mages could actually pull this off.

He repeated the short words most often coined by his fellow soldiers from their Dawnfelden creed with an ironic huff. "Come demon or damnation."


	9. A Cry for Vengeance and A Song of War

Momo didn't want to cry. It was so weak and girlish to cry, but she was so scared when the knife glinted in the stream of moonlight that her eyes flooded instantly. She couldn't make a sound, her body wouldn't let her, all she could do was panic and wait for it to slice her open.

The assailant moved slowly, as his gloved fingers took her stiff arm, so limp to his manipulation. Her sleeve moved up and the tip of his blade touched her wrist. It dug in and sliced upward, opening up her forearm. If she could, she would have screamed. She could shed uncontrolled tears, but that was all, her body trembling despite whatever spell he had put her under.

He was so delicate and diligent though as the knife slid deep through her flesh, opening a vicious wound with an amount of blood that had her head spinning. He raised a hand over the cut already spilling blood onto the floor as mellow purple glyph formed in front of his fingers.

Violet eyes tilted down at her in the moonlight just before something blocked out the moon completely. Momo's eyes strained to her side to see what was happening and the assailant's head whipped to the window just as it flung open wide and a swift heel collided with his face. The magic disappeared and the blade clattered to the floor. Whatever had held Momo in place instantly released.

She grabbed her open arm with a wail, dropping onto her knees in the overwhelming flood of pain and fear. Her eyes were so blurred with tears she couldn't see who the newcomer was, she couldn't see what they were doing or who was winning. She heard crashes, she heard bodies hit the floor and grunts of pain and effort and finally the crack of a strong female voice cutting the air.

"Yield!" she snapped.

Momo choked on a hard sob and squeezed her eyes to clear them and see what was happening. The assailant was face down on the ground, one arm twisted back, blood dripping from his head. A knife was at his throat, but there didn't seem to be anyone holding it. There was no one there.

His arm contorted harder and he yelped as the moonlight caused a flicker of iridescent movement over the assailant.

Purple light formed at the man's fingertips, but the knife pressed harder and it disappeared.

His teeth grit hard. "I yield."

The air above him fluctuated and from it formed the hooded figure of a woman dressed similarly to him. Momo instantly backed away, crying harder, suddenly afraid that her nightmare wasn't over, but thundering footsteps were rushing her way and hope blossomed in her chest seconds later.

The door burst open and the first face she saw was that of her father, illuminated by torchlight. Armored men followed him as he rushed to Momo's side, dropping in front of her as the two hooded figures were surrounded.

"Momo?" the king gasped as one of his men took the torch from him. He took her arm and ripped fabric from his shirt, mouth agape as he quickly wrapped the open wound tightly, pressing his hands to it hard in an attempt to stop the bleeding. Her head fell to his chest as she cried harshly. She didn't see what happened to the two intruders, but she felt herself swept into large arms and the truly terrifying sound of her father shouting in rage. It took something horrible to cause that sound to escape the kind, gentle man.

The entire castle was awake and alive. Alarm bells chimed and she could practically hear the castle guard locking down the castle.

What Momo knew for certain was that she was in immense pain and that she was in her father's arms. She cried on his chest as he spoke comforting things to her. She didn't hear what they were, but she understood the tone.

When her father placed her down on the table of the castle doctor, she clung with her free hand to his shirt, shaking her head, not wanting him to leave her. He didn't, he held her head and her hand as a doctor tore off the makeshift bandage and grimaced at the mangled flesh.

"It will be fine, the cut is very precise and clean," the doctor shook it off, holding up his hands over the arm as green light started to form in glyphs over the cuts, "It's more like an incision than a stab wound, the skin will stitch back easily."

It wasn't that long, but it felt like hours. The bleeding stopped and the doctor went at her flesh with a needle and thread, sewing the cut skin back together now that he'd stopped the profuse bleeding.

Momo stopped crying and finally felt her chest begin to loosen and her breathing relax as the string was cut and the doctor applied a numbing ointment over the wound. The pain was fairly dulled, but even a glance at the damage and stitches made her sick.

Toshinori wiped her hair from her face. "What happened?"

She shook her head, throat tightening to remember it. "I don't know. I couldn't move or scream...he started cutting open my arm and he was about to use some sort of magic...and then that woman attacked him and I don't know what happened after that."

The king's face was tight and angry. "I was right to ask Toru to watch you. If she hadn't been there…"

Momo searched his face in confusion. "What? That woman was watching me?"

Toshinori straightened, still holding her hand as he breathed his own sigh of relief. "Yes and I must see that there are no other assassins in our walls. Wait here for your mother."

Momo's hand tightened in his. "Father…"

He leaned down and kissed her forehead. "You're safe, let me make sure it stays that way."

She got no further chance to argue. The king was rushing from her sight and she barely had sat up to stop him before her mother burst through the door. She was on Momo in a second, her arms taking in her daughter closely to her chest, a hand on the back of her head as though Momo were still the infant she had once held.

"You're alright?" Nemuri pulled back after a good few moments to look her over with intent eyes.

Momo nodded. "I can't really feel the wound anymore...I'm just...it was so terrifying!"

"You don't need to worry my darling, they have him and they are searching every inch of this castle," Nemuri moved to sit beside her, keeping her in at least one arm, "Thank all that is holy that we had Toru watching you."

"H-have you always had someone watching me?" Momo shook her head in disbelief, thinking of the last years of her life. Wondering how much she had been spied on or how many other assassination attempts she had never known of because of it.

"Not always," Nemuri shook her, "But since the Todoroki delegation arrived…"

Momo was taken aback, swallowing hard. "What are you saying?"

Nemuri's eyes darkened. "I'm saying we expected something might happen if we let a Todoroki into our home and thankfully we took precautions."

Momo turned her arm out of her sight, mouth agape. She couldn't think of Fuyumi ever ordering something like this. The girl who missed her mother and feared for her future children. The one who had spent the day with her laughing and forming what she had believed was a friendship.

"No…not Fuyumi...she wouldn't…"

"We'll see about that," Nemuri's lip tightened and something cold ebbed off of her, "She and her party will be questioned immediately and guarded closely until we know the truth."

Momo jerked away from her mother, dropping her feet to the floor, letting out a small whimper as the reverberation went through her arm.

"Momo, sit down, you need to rest," Nemuri stood.

"It's not Fuyumi's fault," Momo shook her head, "Don't take this out on her!"

Nemuri's eyebrows went up in surprise. Her mouth opened to possibly demand her take a seat once again, but Momo had panic in her chest again and she couldn't bear the thought of laying back down. Fuyumi was being accused of doing this to her as they spoke and she couldn't let that happen.

She dodged her mother's attempt to grab her arm and force her down, taking into a run for the door.

"Momo!" Nemuri screamed after her, but stopped her chase after she was out of the room, the younger girl already too far ahead for the queen to catch up to in her full bottomed gown.

Momo's arm was against her chest and her eyes were full of tears at the return of the pain it was causing to run with such freshly sealed injuries. Her panicked determination kept her going, even the guards she passed unable to stop her before she reached the throne room. She rushed through the doors, caught immediately by the guards just inside.

"Your highness, what are you-?"

She flung out her good arm desperately and hit him in the face on accident, cutting off his question as she went wide eyed on the situation in front of her. The assassin was tied and surrounded by guards, forced on his knees at the center of the room, his hood and mask pulled away from his face. His expression seemed nearly bored and the blood dripping down his brow didn't appear to bother him. To his side stood the Captain of the guard and the woman who had saved her life, Toru, her own hood thrown back to reveal long blonde hair and a serious expression. The king stood in front of them.

But that was hardly what was so shocking. Along with the soldiers and the assailant, the room occupied Lady Fuyumi and Commander Tenya, placed as though they were being just as accused as the assassin himself and flanked by the king's soldiers. There were tears in Fuyumi's eyes and Commander Tenya was in the midst of appealing to the king.

"Father stop!" Momo shouted, "It wasn't them, don't-"

Toshinori's voice boomed like thunder as his words cut Tenya specifically. "You say you know this man and yet you want me to believe that the Todoroki house is not responsible for this?"

Momo's words stuck in her throat, shock ending her struggle against the guard's tight hand on her small wrist.

"I have seen him in Tarlson Keep, yes," Tenya admitted, "But he is a service mage! He is not one of Lord Enji's assassins!"

The assassin chuckled and a guard swiftly cracked knuckles across his face, ending the smug sound.

"What about you, do you have some excuse for this attempt on my daughter's life?" Toshinori's voice made Fuyumi flinch where she stood.

"My king, I swear I know nothing of this!" Fuyumi cried, "I beg you, please believe us, I hold Princess Momo in the highest esteem, I would never wish her harm, much less death!"

Momo choked, heart squeezing at those words from Fuyumi. It shouldn't have been the time to be moved by such a thing, but she was. To watch this play out instantly became a thousand times harder.

The king stepped towards them, a massive wall of a man. Tenya put his hand out to keep Fuyumi close at his back, his other hand hovering where his sword should have been. Toshinori was not deterred in the least, stopping close and looking down at the stricken face of the young woman, before something in his eyes softened.

"On that I do believe you, My Lady," the king sighed, "You are young and innocent...you are an easily used pawn in your father's games and I was foolish to believe he wanted peace."

The small hope in her eyes dashed quickly.

With a nod from the king, the guards rushed them and pulled Tenya from her side, restraining him quickly as the assassin laughed again.

"Your highness you must listen to reason!" Tenya demanded, "The assassin may have worked of his own accord or anothers! He was sent to Lord Enji from the Synod! Perhaps he is their assassin instead?"

"The Synod does not employ assassins," Toshinori growled, "They have no reason to harm my family. The Todorokis have every reason."

"It's not true," Fuyumi wept, stepping towards the king to appeal to him, "Why this wedding and this alliance if my father wished to assassinate the princess?"

"That is precisely the reason he would," Toshinori turned to her, placing a gentle hand on her shoulder, "He knows that after Momo, Togata is second in line for the throne. I have refused his every request to marry Momo to your brother so marrying you to Togata was his only recourse. And he will not have the power he wants by that union if Momo is still alive."

Momo's eyes widened to realize that marriage offers had already been sent about her and that her father had refused them. But was that reason enough to arrange an assassination?

"Why not ask the assassin himself?" Momo shouted across the room, finally jerking free of the guard's hand and running to the center of the scene. Fuyumi and Tenya looked at her and the way she held her arm with blatant shock and concern.

Momo stayed a great distance from the assassin, eyeing him with caution, but looking to her father with pleading eyes.

"Momo you shouldn't be here," the king took her shoulder, but she shrugged free.

"Ask him!" Momo shouted into Toshinori's face, shaking, but showing her resolve all the same.

The king slowly looked to the assassin, true loathing in his eyes as he took in the bored expression.

"Will you speak, assassin?"

He shrugged in response.

"Who sent you?" The king loomed close and intimidating.

"The Lord of Tarlson," he tilted his head.

"Lies!" Tenya jerked against the arms that held him to no avail.

"They wouldn't entrust such a plan with the likes of you, Commander," the assassin glanced at Tenya, "You're far too soft."

"If he were my father's assassin why would he tell you so?" Fuyumi cut in, desperation breaking her voice, "He's lying, My King!"

The assassin shifted in his restraints, a flicker of light glowing over him, showing that the restraints were warded against magic. His vile magic. Magic that could make her stand still and quiet while he carved her flesh.

"I never said my loyalty was to Lord Enji," the assassin rolled his eyes, "I saw an opportunity and I took it. Now I'd like you not to execute me so I'm giving you reason to keep me alive."

Momo viewed him with disgust. "What sort of opportunity?"

His eyes narrowed, again seeming nearly bored. "To assassinate someone. You would have been my first, your highness. That's why I was being so careful. I wanted to do it right."

"That spell you were about to cast did not require such a vicious wound," Toru bit at the assassin, almost surprising Momo with her voice. She was perfect for a spymaster, she seemed to disappear if eyes turned away from her even a moment. "Either you're a sadistic bastard and deserve no such mercy or you are simply sloppy."

"As I said," the assassin shrugged, "It was my first assassination, cut me some slack, spymaster." It was almost sarcastic and Momo shifted back from him, panic rising in her chest again at the way he eyed her.

The king shook his head, hand tight in his blond hair as he paced a short amount of the throne room. He was mulling over his decision, leaving the room in deep anticipation.

When he stopped he looked first to Toru. "Lock him in the dungeon with a mage guard on watch. Inform the Synod of his actions, but tell them we will not be turning him over to them. I will know more of this before he is executed by my own hand."

The assassin was pulled to his feet and roughly dragged from the throne room, despite the fact that he didn't resist. Toru was a step behind them to attend to the tasks that the king had assigned her.

Next Toshinori looked to Commander Tenya and Momo's insides clamped tight.

"Knowledgeable of this attempt or not, you are a soldier of the enemy," Toshinori's eyes were cold, unrecognizable, "You will join the assassin in the dungeons and await trial and judgment when I have finished with Lord Enji."

"My King, please…"

Toshinori spun on the white haired girl as Tenya jerked against the hands that held him.

"Please don't take this out on Lady Fuyumi!" Tenya begged, "Your highness, have mercy!"

His blue eyes were hard on Fuyumi's shrinking form. "You are my nephew's wife, I will decide nothing about you without his input. Until this is resolved you will be confined to your room under constant watch. That," he looked to Tenya's fearful expression, "will be my mercy."

Momo felt a tear hit her arm. This was all over her. And no matter if the assassin was correct or not, Tenya and Fuyumi weren't to blame. They couldn't be. She believed them and even her father didn't seem to think that either of them willfully intended this. If it was Lord Enji's doing, then why punish them?

She stood frozen as Tenya was taken away and the remaining castle guard escorted Fuyumi from the king's presence. She lingered a pleading stare on Momo, but wasn't allowed another word before she was out of their sight.

Momo's teary eyes turned up to her father, her heart in her feet at the hurt expression on his face.

"I will ride with our armies to Tarlson at noon tomorrow," he said plainly, "I have tried to make peace with Enji, but now he will have war. The fighting in Dawnfell makes the timing bleek, but he must be dealt with here and now. I will call Togata home."

"Please father...not over me…"

He brushed away one of her tears with his thumb and then took her injured hand, turning her arm up. She turned her head away and his breath came out in a shudder.

"When you have children one day you will understand, Momo," he whispered and then looked ahead, "This is the part of ruling I wanted to protect you from as long as possible."

"But Fuyumi hasn't hurt me!" Momo put her arm back to her chest, stepping away from him, "The Commander wouldn't hurt me either! Don't punish them for the faults of Lord Enji! Execute the assassin and declare war if you have to, but don't take it out on them!"

"You don't understand these things," the king said loudly, "You're still too young to know how the nasty business of ruling works."

"Then make me understand!" She practically screamed, every inch of her aching. She never yelled at her father like this. Her mother sometimes, yes, but never her father. He was never the one she would get mad at or show weakness to. This went against her very nature, but she was so on edge and so emotionally charged by what had happened tonight she couldn't hold back.

"I wouldn't be a guilless child if you would actually allow me to see the hardships and make those decisions! If they deserve to suffer for their Lord's mistakes then show me why! Show me what they have done to earn your mistrust!"

"She is a Todoroki," Toshinori silenced the room in one setence, "That is all the reason I need."

Momo bit her cheek. "She's a Mirio. She's our family now."

"That is why you aren't ready to make these decisions," Toshinori turned away from her completely.

Momo felt like a pile of bricks had been dropped on her. Her father stayed staring away, his fists tense at his sides. She couldn't speak.

"You aren't ready to lead," he said sternly, but softly, "My little girl, you don't have the heart for it…"

"Father…"

"That's not a bad thing," he sounded almost sad, "Your mother tried to make you mistrustful, but you are too much like me as a youth. You want to trust and for anyone else that would be an admirable trait. But you're a royal...everything you have someone wants and is willing to kill to get. Trusting the wrong people is how you lose the ones you love..."

Momo's hands tightened on her heart.

"...and I won't lose you too."

Finally washed clean of the blood, mud, and sweat of the battle and their journey, Shoto had changed out of his tattered Synod robes into basic breaches and a loose shirt. He cleaned his staff as best he could, but set the robes aside. There was no salvaging them after what they had been through. He felt practically naked to leave his weapon in the purchased room and to walk into the pub area without a single embellishment or symbol stating his status, but Nana's insistence that they blend in and not draw attention was more relevant than his comfort. He was noticeable enough with the natural two toned color of his hair and the cleaved, still forming scar across his face, but without Synod robes he was more of a novelty to look at instead of a suspicious presence.

He didn't like the idea of sitting around here while the elves and the Captain went off to do important things, but Nana was adamant that the best thing they could do for everyone was get back their strength and stay unnoticed until Shoto could get the Honing Stone. It brought them to a secluded table in the pub and prompted them to order a hearty meal fit for more than the thin, lanky young man and the older woman across from him. But the barkeep who viewed their order with suspicion couldn't have known just how much energy a mage drained when using as much magic as they had. Shoto had eaten some of Denki's offered rations that morning as well and he still felt like he could consume an entire cow in one sitting.

They barely talked when they got their food, so preoccupied with filling the endless voids inside of them. But over their chewing they very clearly heard what was certainly a siren call warbling over the loud, rambunctious crowd occupying the pub, catching every available ear. The tune was familiar to all, a mellow sound, strong yet mournful.

_/Come to the dawn/_

_/Come to the keep/_

_/The lord awaits your vow/_

_/Rise to the East/_

_/Rise to the fight/_

_/The time for blood is now/_

Every babe old enough to hold its own head knew the song. It was as old as Dawnfell, as old as the first summoning, but never had Shoto heard it quite like this.

_/Take up the sword/_

_/Take on the crest/_

_/The Griffon leads your charge/_

_/Brandish your shield/_

_/Steel your hearts/_

_/To the East prepare your march/_

The crowd started up singing along in many offset, unmatching tones and threatened to ruin the beautiful number. But the voice that overwhelmed all of them was strong and grabbed Shoto by the ear like a hand. The longer it continued, the more he felt the strength in the vocals and the less shouting and offkey singing he heard around it.

Shoto lifted his head from his meal, feeling very strange and very unsettled by a familiar weight in the air, a pinprick presence. His eyes darted around the room and found all eyes, including Nana's, trained to the center of the pub where a dark haired woman strummed silver notes along the strings of a lute, her lips parted to let flow the perfect melody of her voice.

_/Blood Dawn do not rise/_

_/Blood Moon do not shine/_

_/Your people fear no battle, but pray you may spare/_

_/Look to the Crest, Griffon blazing/_

_/Look to your captain, Eastward gazing/_

_/No Demon's mercy awaits you there/_

The room was so still and entranced that a pin could be heard hitting the floorboards. Shoto caught on to the peculiarity as the stanza concluded and in the blink of an eye he was on his feet, palms open, alert at the sudden indication of a threat. The minstrel was in the middle of a breath to begin her next verse, but the jarring sound of his chair moving back caught her shocked attention with a gasp and her mouth snapped shut, eyes wide on him.

The spell broke in a snap and the rambling of conversation and cups sliding on counters came back in a burst, as though they hadn't even realized that they had stopped talking and drinking in the first place. Shoto looked around in surprise, noting that even Nana seemed confused as to why he was standing defensively.

"Shoto, what are you doing?" Nana's voice made him whip around to her in a jolt of shock.

"You didn't feel that?" he shook his head and spun back on the woman who was already strapping her instrument over her shoulder and moving to vacate the area.

"Felt what?"

Shoto didn't bother to respond, just pushed through the crowd headlong for the minstrel as she made a direct line for the staircase that led up to the rooms. Her pace was quick, but his strides were longer. Nana's shouts didn't slow him down.

She broke into a run when she made it halfway up the stairs and Shoto was fast on her heels, thankful for his long legs, but even moreso for the grip of magic that he could hold in his bare hands. He wouldn't need his staff for this.

Much like the magic he had used to stop Denki from escaping the night before, he conjured a tendrils of frost to shoot out across the floorboards of the upstairs hallway and grip her feet to the floor with a thick layer of ice. She jerked her legs as hard as she could, but the ice only cracked a little, which gave Shoto plenty of time to catch up to her.

She wasn't so easily subdued though. She whipped a blade from her belt, swinging her upper body about to defend herself. Shoto hadn't actually expected it, but he managed to open a small glyph of shielding in his hands in front of himself just in time to catch the blade before it could cut his head off. It struck with a bright spark as they locked intense stares. Blue and gray fought dark brown in a tense standoff.

"How did you do that?" Shoto asked, looking her over for some enchantment or item that could explain the spell she'd cast over her audience. There was nothing on her person or in the way she defended herself that said she was a mage and he didn't know any mage that would need to use a blade, so it made sense to believe there was an enchantment involved. Perhaps her instrument.

The woman gave him an equally discerning look. "How did you notice it?" was her response.

"I asked first," Shoto pushed a little, hearing her efforts continuing to crack the ice.

"Shoto!" he heard Nana bark from the top of the stairs, "What's going on here?"

He didn't even look her way, just kept his determined stare on the minstrel. "She was using magic on all of you," he said, "She had you all enchanted."

Nana blinked at them both in confusion. "I don't remember...I…"

"Damn it," the woman hissed under her breath, "I wasn't trying to enchant anyone...I didn't realize I was doing it until I saw you looking like you were ready to kill me."

"I wasn't trying to kill you," Shoto argued.

The woman looked down at her feet and then at the stalemate they were in, of her blade pressing against his shield, before she cocked her head at him. "Then why did you chase me up here?"

"A room full of people being enchanted in an instant is fairly suspect, but I really just want to know what sort of magic that was," Shoto violently shoved the blade away and dropped the shield, stepping fully clear of her reach, "You don't feel like a mage."

"Well you definitely are," the woman frowned, jabbing the blade into the ice around her foot, instead of at Shoto, to free herself, "You aren't dressed like one, but those spells were pretty obvious. If you're trying to be incognito you aren't doing a very good job of it.. What do you want with me? Are you a Synod spy or something?"

"I'm a Battle Mage," Shoto said blandly, feeling Nana move to his side as the woman stepped clear from the ice and positioned herself to fend off another attack if need be.

"We aren't Synod spies," Nana assured her, diplomatically, "We're mages, but we aren't malicious, I promise. I'm curious as well who you are and what you did back there...I don't remember a thing once you started singing and I wouldn't have even considered thinking something was wrong if Shoto hadn't pointed it out. That's an incredible power you have and I'd love to know more about it."

The woman pinched her nose and shook her head. "Who even are you?"

"I'm Nana and this is Shoto," the older woman introduced them, "What's your name, dear?"

"Kyoka?"

It wasn't the woman who responded, but it was an answer all the same. All three sets of eyes flung to the staircase where their two elf companions were standing with a large bundle in their hands and gaping wide eyed at the girl pointing a long knife at the two mages. The blade lowered some in the woman's surprise, but she barely got a question out before Denki had flung his arms around her neck and was sputtering on unintelligibly. Mina dropped the bundle she was carrying and ran after him, tugging on Denki's arm to try and free the woman he'd trapped in a hug. WIld elves were so very uncouth, it seemed.

"What happened to you? Where did you go?" Denki was beaming at her, while the woman tried to get her bearings around another rib-crushing hug from the girl elf.

"You know this woman?" Shoto asked, shaking his head at the whiplash of the situation.

Denki laughed and nodded. "Yeah, this is Kyoka, we met while she was performing in Riverden and she got us out of a tight spot with a screwy mage." The blond elf elbowed Kyoka fondly as she shook her head, slipping free from Mina.

"I should have known they'd be friends of yours," Kyoka folded her arms at the elf, "You attract trouble, you know that?"

"No more than I can handle," Denki winked.

Kyoka and Mina locked eyes and raised eyebrows, less than convinced.

"I'll believe it when you learn to handle me," Mina grinned, jabbing a proud thumb at herself.

"Denki," Nana cleared her throat, catching their attentions, "Perhaps some introductions would be in order."

"Oh right," Denki rubbed his neck and gestured as he made introductions. "Kyoka, this is Nana Shimura, she was married to my father's brother a while back. And Shoto is her friend, who's kind of grumpy, but, I mean, he's nothing compared to the Captain. And this is Kyoka Jiro, she's a traveling minstrel."

"She seems to be more than that," Shoto crossed his arms, tilting his head as his expression slipped back to his usual lack thereof.

Mina's eyes widened. "You…" she made some gestures around her mouth and, though Kyoka frowned, she also nodded.

"It was an accident," she bit her cheek, "Ruined my set too. I barely got through the first song before your friend came at me all threatening like and I realized I'd enchanted everybody."

"That's pretty irresponsible," there was a smug tone in Denki's voice and he got a punch in the shoulder.

"You can talk about irresponsibility when you find my old lute."

"What sort of magic is it?" Nana recaptured their focus. If nothing else she had a talent for righting people's stray attentions.

"It's an enchantment," Mina blurted out before Kyoka could even breathe. She tapped the minstrels throat, excited. "She can make normal songs have strange powers with her magical tongue."

"That's not entirely true," Kyoka pushed her hands down, "It's my vocal chords, not my tongue."

"How do you enchant the songs?" Shoto asked, getting a prick of nostalgia to think how Izuku would be sputtering and losing his mind over meeting someone with this sort of power..

Kyoka glanced between the elves and finally shrugged, relaxing in front of the mages as she sheathed the blade and adjusted the lute on her back.

"I'm not a mage, never have been," she explained, "But a mage gave me this power. I've always been a minstrel and since I write ballads I end up meeting some interesting characters."

Kyoka's eyes darted between the elves to give example. Her hands were folded behind her and her shoulders squared. This subject was something that seemed to hold a lot of pride for her.

"One particular fellow, a mage enchanter to be exact, had learned to enchant parts of the human body."

"That's not possible," Shoto shook his head, "We were taught about enchantments and they are restricted to inanimate objects. Living material can't be enchanted."

Kyoka shrugged. "I'm no mage, I just know what I saw and what I can do because of it. He enchanted his teeth to bite through a shielding spell and enchanted his lungs to breathe underwater."

"You should hear what he did to his cock," Denki's eyebrows went up and down. This time Nana hit him across the back of the head, glaring like this disappointed aunt that she was.

Shoto's face got a little red, but he tried to shake off what Denki must have meant by that, attempting to convince himself that the mage had enchanted a rooster instead. But Mina had a curious grin on him that said he wasn't hiding his embarrassment very well and that the comment was not about a chicken..

"So you're saying he enchanted your voice?" Shoto rushed past the interjection.

She nodded. "It was a gift apparently. He said that I was a young bard with no means to defend myself against the dark world of the ether and said my voice would be my power. He put his hand on my throat and I've been able to use charm voice ever since."

"Defense against the ether?" Nana looked to Shoto with raised eyebrows, before moving to stand in front of the younger dark haired girl.

"Yes," Kyoka's eyes narrowed, "My sword won't do much against a demon without a good enchantment, so I have to trust my voice instead."

"She can lull them," Mina dropped her elbow onto Kyoka's shoulder, "They pass right out and one time she made one go crawling and screaming back to the ether to escape her magnificent voice! You're really amazing, Kyoka." Pink hair fell in a fluff on Kyoka's shoulder as the Moondance elf gushed. There was a pointed pout on Denki's face as he reached across Kyoka to shove the other elf away from the girl.

Nana raised her eyebrows, impressed. "I can certainly appreciate that talent," Nana nodded, "May I ask if you're particularly busy for the next few weeks?"

Excited looks passed between the elves, but Kyoka looked confused. "I'd like to finish my gig without mages attempting to kill me to be entirely honest, but after that…" she looked around and got a small smile, "I'm always looking for new material for a good ballad, I'm guessing you have an adventure to offer? A quest of sorts?"

Shoto didn't know why he was surprised. Nana seemed to be gathering quite the band of misfits and he wasn't quite sure how to feel about it. He didn't have much time to consider it before the final, irritating piece of their part came stomping up the stairs with the uncouth pace of the brash soldier he was.

It was surprising to see Katsuki cleaned up and in fresh attire, leaving Shoto to wonder where, when, and how he'd managed that in the time he had been gone, which then made him realize that it had been at least an hour if not two since they parted ways.

To see Katsuki dressed in clothes that hadn't been dragged through dirt for a full week before being air dried and worn again was strange enough, but to see his disheveled hair under control was the most peculiar part. Looking presentable was not part of life at the encampment, which was how he had known him until now. Function above all else, even for the Captain and the Commander. But now he looked civilized...sort of like a Captain.

"What the fuck are you doing standing around-?" Katsuki cut himself off when he saw Kyoka and his face went rather blank as he blinked at her.

Nana turned towards him and smiled. "Katsuki this is-"

"I know who the fuck that is," Katsuki interrupted her, storming forward, "You've got some nerve showing back up in Dawnsend, Kyoka."

The girl as the elves on either side of Kyoka took a full step back, cautious but intrigued by the Captain's reaction. It may have been surprising that they knew each other, but the aggressive way he marched up to her like he had a less than pleasant history with the minstrel seemed normal.

Kyoka crossed her arms back at him, standing tall. She wasn't near his height, but she looked tough enough that Shoto wasn't entirely sure she'd lose outright in a fight with him.

"Oh, so you're Lord of Dawnsend now?" she scoffed, "Get over yourself, Katsuki, it's been two years."

Denki dropped an arm on Katsuki's shoulder as Mina mimicked the action with Kyoka.

"What's been two years?" Mina asked.

Katsuki's hand went to the handle of his sword. "You have exactly one second before I cut off your arm."

Denki was out of arm's reach faster than Shoto could register, the elf showing just how light footed he could be when driven.

Kyoka rolled her eyes and dropped her stance, returning to nonchalance. "Anyone else I should know about? Perhaps a Demon?"

Katsuki spun on Nana. "What is she doing here?"

"I'm meeting new people and gathering new stories, like I always have," Kyoka answered for herself, "The real question is what you're doing with these people. Don't you have a war you're supposed to be fighting?"

"I am fighting a damn war!" He shook the room with his voice, "That's why we're here and we don't need some two bit bard trailing behind us, disrupting our work with shit music and terrible poetry!"

"After what Shoto witnessed I think she can do much more than that," Nana crossed her arms at them, "She could be useful and if all she's asking in return is material for a few ballads I'm not going to turn her away."

"What use is she going to be?" The question was directed to Shoto this time, since he was the only standing witness.

"I saw her-"

"What I can do is not really important!" Kyoka quickly interjected, her demeanor turning nervous and cheeks flushing, losing that confidence she had before when she talked about her power.

Shoto raised an eyebrow at her and then glanced at Katsuki, but didn't explain any further.

"Definitely not as important as knowing what you're getting into, I agree," Nana nodded.

"And what is it I'm getting into?" Kyoka looked to the older mage.

"We're going to face the Archdemon," Shoto answered, "Nana is a Blood Mage and we believe that she can kill it. We came here to obtain a Honing Stone to find the Summoner and put an end to the Summoning."

The room got deathly quiet, everyone waiting for Kyoka's response.

"I see," she nodded slowly after thinking about it for a good while, "I'm made of questions, but I can see a good story there. Even if you turn out to be the villains it'll be worth singing about."

"Bards," Katsuki rolled his eyes.

"I'm so excited!" Mina bounced on her heels, "It'll be just like old times! Except more mages…"

Kyoka laughed. "As if you're really complaining."

Mina smirked, but Denki crossed his arms in a pout.

"Don't encourage her," Denki fussed.

With a loud scoff, Katsuki chose to ignore Kyoka and the two elves speaking in inside jokes beside them and Instead turned to Shoto, frowning as he always tended to do. He seemed to be tearing apart his appearance unhappily.

"Did the useless elves actually get the shit or-"

"Hey, we aren't useless!" Denki broke Katsuki's sentence, striding past him and knocking shoulders as he grabbed the bundle Mina had dropped. "See!"

Nana held up a hand towards him, really looking at their surroundings and jerking her head towards the room Shoto had taken when they arrived. "Not here. We shouldn't be talking about any of this out in the open."

That was easily agreed upon and the five all followed Nana behind the walls of the purchased room, annoyances forgotten for the sake of their mutual intrigue. They gathered around, but certain people kept their proverbial distances from one another as Denki opened the bundle onto the surface of one of the small beds.

Shoto's eyes went wide at the contents. Synod Master robes, a signet ring, and blank parchment marked with a High Circle seal all sat in front of him. Items that could not be found just lying about and were not purchasable at a general store.

"How did you-?"

Denki winked at Shoto's bewildered expression. "I told you we have connections. Recently a couple towns over there was a murder involving a Synod Master, poisoned at a friendly dinner. One of the guys we work with saw his opportunity and went for it. Scavenging something as rare as Master robes is pretty big. He had to clean some vomit off of it, but no stab holes and or blood stains, it's enough to make a man sick with jealousy. We trade a lot of favors in our business and he told me about them when we met up a couple weeks ago, so Mina and I met up with him, traded in some favors and a bit of loot and here we are. You can go ahead and thank me now."

Nana sighed and sarcastically smiled upwards. "Your father would be so proud."

"Thank you," Shoto did the polite thing, nodding gratitude for the elf's work as he took the fine material of the robes into his hands and held them up. The sleeves were wide, the length not too short as often was his problem with Synod robes. It jumped at the eye with red and blue fabric and gold embroidery. A masterful work by a Synod seamstress.

He could hardly believe that he was considering putting it on. He always imagined one day he would wear robes like this, but not for many years, not until long, grueling training had turned to many harsh years of service and his developed talent got him noticed by the High Circle.

"Do you think it will work, Shoto?" Nana asked, leaning her hands on the bed.

Katsuki picked up the ring and turned it in front of his eyes, sucking his teeth. "Shit, I think it actually might. I'd be convinced, even if he walked in with that damn baby face."

Denki looked hard at Shoto. "He doesn't look like a baby to me."

"Definitely not," Mina's added comment made Shoto shift a little farther away from her.

"Given that most Synod Masters are in their forties before they get the title, I practically do," Shoto set the robes back down and held out his hand towards Katsuki for him to give him the ring, "I'm about twenty years off the mark. Nana would be more convincing…" He almost hated to say the words, since that suggestion meant that he might be giving up his only chance to ever wear Master robes, but his pride couldn't be the deciding factor if they wanted to succeed.

Nana didn't seem to agree though. "You would have a better chance convincing a Synod Stationmaster that you're a Master than I would."

Katsuki dropped the ring into Shoto's hand and crossed his arms. "Why, you're like eighty years old aren't you?"

Nana laughed. "I'm old enough to be your mother, not your grandmother. But that hardly matters. I can't do it. I've had run-ins and gained knowledge about the Synod, but I've never lived among them. The only interaction I've experienced with a Synod Mage is a fight, save for with Shoto. It will be obvious quickly that I'm not Synod, I don't have the attitude, the heir, or the mannerisms."

"We're not all so easily typecasted," Shoto said stiffly, turning the ring in his hand.

"No, she has a point," Katsuki agreed, "You can't fake that level of jackass. You'll have to do it."

Shoto's nose lifted as he rolled his eyes, showing both disinterest and annoyance with the Captain.

"Wow, that's perfect," Kyoka nodded, "He has Synod written all over him."

Shoto ground his teeth, but forced down his frustration, running his thumb along the brocade of the robes. The bright side was that he'd get to wear these after all, but his stomach turned at the lie he would have to fabricate. Deceit was not his strong point.

"Well put it on," Denki shoved the robes towards him, "Don't we have some sort of time constraint to think about?"

Shoto moved to do so, but then stopped short, glancing over the very watchful eyes as a pink hue overcame his face.

"Oh," Nana caught onto the look and tapped the elves on the shoulders, "Let's leave so he can change."

Mina's mouth turned down, "You're no fun, ma'am."

Shoto nodded gratitude to Nana as she ushered the others out. But Katsuki stayed, slamming the door behind them.

"Get out," Shoto hissed, but Katsuki just snatched the parchment from the bed and walked to the desk at the room's corner. He lit a candle and took a quill pen in hand, sitting down facing away from Shoto.

"We don't have time for you to be a little princess," Katsuki barked, "We need a convincing letter of authorization. Dictate some shit and I'll make it look good."

It took every effort in his body not to drive a magically conjured shard through the back of his head, but the letter did need to be written before he took up this role. He mulled it over for a long time though, standing stiffly, hands in fists at his side.

"I said dictate," Katsuki growled over his shoulder, "I'll pull rank if I have to."

Shoto ground his heel as he viciously pulled his shirt over his head. "I'm not one of your soldiers."

"No, you're my prisoner, act like it," Katsuki violently tapped the pen in the inkwell.

Shoto cursed under his breath, using every ounce of restraint he had not to turn the Captain into an unidentifiable pile of smoldering flesh. Instead he took every action with violent motions, biting out each word he dictated like maybe they could cut the Captain if he tried hard enough.

"To all Masters of Gaetha's Most Valiant Synod," Shoto dictated and ignored Katsuki's scoff as he stripped out of his breaches and hurriedly grabbed the robes, hoping to cover himself before the Captain could even think to glance back. "By dictate of the High Circle, the bearer of this letter, Master Shoto of the Center Magesterium, holder of the Two Skull Signet, is hereby authorized access to all Synod resources required to meet the designs of the High Circle. Let this letter be a verdict of authorization to its holder to take action in the name of the Most Holy Synod in the effort to bring conclusion to the Summoning of the year 1209. Full cooperation is to be given until such time as these orders are retracted or the current Summoning is concluded."

Katuski took more than a few glances back at Shoto as if to be sure the mage was serious about what he was dictating. He couldn't know how much the Captain saw, but he was quick to slip on the fitted pants and the light shirt that went beneath the overlayer of the robes, losing his slim patience with each passing moment that Katsuki stifled the air with his presence.

"That bullshit will work?" Katsuki shook his head at the page he was carefully writing on.

"I'm paraphrasing the orders I was given when I reported to Master Ferris," Shoto slipped his arm through the sleeve, "That's how they're written. They aren't that much different than your own military orders."

"Yeah, but they don't have all that 'most holy' and 'we suck our own cocks' language in them," Katsuki half laughed.

"As if Dawnfeldens don't think just as highly of themselves," Shoto sucked air through his teeth.

"Whatever," Katsuki tapped the pen to place the final period, "Who's signing this?"

"What seal does it have?" Shoto asked.

Katsuki turned in his seat, tilting his head in a glare. Shoto jerked the front of the robes close, sealing the buttons across the chest quickly.

"How the fuck am I supposed to know?"

Hot air shot from Shoto's nose as he moved to the desk and grabbed the parchment, looking closely at the imprinted seal. It was practice of all Synod mages no matter their rank to know what seal matched what High Circle mage. Every mage needed to know and recognize what authority was being incurred at all times.

Shoto groaned and shoved it back down. "Master Sochi Tanen," he huffed.

"A friend of yours?" Katsuki asked smugly at Shoto's reaction.

"No," Shoto snatched the ring from the bed, "Just sign it."

Master Sochi was the man that led the Magesterium assignment process. He directed the Magesterium leaders in which mages would be assigned to what task, lifestyle, and proficiency. It made sense why it would be one of his letters that the elves acquired, he wrote more orders than anyone. His seal was on Shoto's Battlemage orders.

On the far end of the room were the few things that had survived the encampment. Tattered, bloody, mud soaked robes and his staff, now thankfully washed clean. He didn't imagine there would be a time that he would hold this staff and not think of how sticky with blood it had once been. But it was a strong staff, a very refined Synod item, one a Battle Master would be proud to use. Izuku had given it to him a few years back. The smaller boy had acquired it by winning a bet with one of their Masters, Izuku proving him wrong about a magical application in a scene that had the entire Magesterium talking for weeks. But it was a Battle Staff and Izuku said it was too focused on that one style to suit him and gave it to Shoto instead. Shoto had never thought much about it, but he realized now if the face of true evil infecting their world and his decision to face it, that he was immensely lucky to have it.

With his staff in hand and the ensemble complete, Shoto stepped in front of the small wall mirror by the door and caught his breath. He didn't know what to think or feel about seeing himself in Master robes. It was the fruition of his younger self's goals, but it wasn't real. And it really stuck hard that this would never be a real possibility for him. His decision to be here, to follow Nana to this fight...to possibly use Blood Magic...this would never be his reality. He knew it would be worth it, he knew he had to do this, that if he didn't the world might be lost. That this path that would lead him astray from his service and brethren was his only chance left to do something significant. The Synod had made it clear that they wouldn't give him that opportunity when they sent him unprepared to the forefront of a horribly bloody war. They rejected him from their life in the Center Magesterium with those orders, sending him to a likely death. His loyalty to them was still set deep in his heart, but if he was going to make his place in history he would have to defy them.

Shoto eyed the stripes of the scars that ran down his face, how they had started to form bright scars. He thought of the magic that had formed in his hands from the blood that had gushed from those wounds and he internally squirmed between self loathing and the double beat of his heart on a thrill he could not control. If he were a wise man he'd never entertain the idea of Blood Magic again, knowing firsthand how powerful it felt on his fingertips. But Nana's words, the importance of this quest were too good of an excuse and he dwelled uncomfortably long on the notion. On the decision that he had already arrived at. On what he would have to do.

"If you're done admiring yourself, you've got shit to do," Katsuki was suddenly at his side, slamming the parchment against Shoto's chest.

The inner dialogue was broken and he snatched the paper, looking it over to ensure it would be convincing, before folding it neatly and putting it into the breast pocket inside of the robes while Katsuki examined his appearance.

"Well it's an improvement at least," the Captain commented snidely.

With an upward appeal for some modicum of strength, Shoto shoved past him to leave, knowing now was not the time nor the place for an altercation spawned from sheer annoyance. Katsuki followed him out into the hallway as music filtered up from downstairs. Katsuki frowned, but the far too perfect voice put Shoto at ease, just as much to know how Kyoka seemed to annoy Katsuki as an appreciation for the pleasant sound it created. Especially since it lacked the twinge of magic it held before, assuring them that the girl was not putting a room full of people under her spell. An ability Shoto knew they needed to be very cautious of despite how intrigued he was by the possible applications.

They went downstairs and found that Kyoka had taken up her place at the center of the crowd again, this time capturing their attention without enchantment, including the mesmerized stares of Denki, Mina and Nana. The older woman smiled warmly at the girl, genuinely amazed at her talent as the cogs of her mind turned. He could see in her eyes how she was planning and devising uses for the newest edition to their party. Somehow so intelligent and calculated, and yet kind and welcoming. Again Shoto had to shake the feeling of how much she reminded him of Izuku.

Katsuki was the only one unimpressed with her music, crossing his arms to lean on the wall by the stairs as he flipped up the hood of his cloak, still attempting not to be noticed by the pub patrons.

"You don't like music?" Shoto raised an eyebrow at him.

"I don't like bards."

"Good to know."

Katsuki growled at his underlying meaning. "Let's just go already."

"You're coming with me?" he asked as Katsuki moved through the crowd with Shoto at his heels.

"You don't know where you're going," the Captain sighed, "Besides I have no interest in staying here."

Despite the Captain's admanent statement, Shoto couldn't help but notice that Katsuki's red eyes lingered longer than normal on the singer. But the girl was out of their minds the moment they set out into the boisterous, lively streets of Dawnsend.


	10. History and Surmounting Conflict

"Let me in immediately!"

"Your highness, you know we can't-"

Momo got as close to the guard's face as she could, finger stabbing sharply into his chest. His eyes were wide and uncertain on her, glancing every few seconds to the guard at his right for some sort of backup that he was also too afraid to offer.

The night had been long, restless, and terrible leading up to this and Momo had done nothing but make her mother miserable every second of it. Her father refused to speak with her as he called together his forces and dispatched men to send word to Togata. That left her mother to try and demand what they called reason from the young princess. Her arm had been in pain, her head was spinning, and all around her those who supposedly knew better spat vile accusations at people who did not deserve it.

She got away from her mother as soon as she could and made for the wing that she once knew to be Togata's. The guards outside were being uncooperative in letting her through, though.

"Listen to me carefully," Momo's eyes looked crazed with her lack of sleep and relentless tears shed through the night, "If you don't let me through this door immediately the next thing the queen will hear is that the both of you took advantage of me and you can be certain she'll believe her own daughter over a couple palace guards!"

Momo had no intention of doing such a thing. It was such a low trick she knew many noble women to play when they wanted their way and good men were often executed under such false pretences and these men didn't deserve that. But she would say whatever she needed to to get through that door right now and she had the resolve to make it convincing.

Apparently the guards also were aware of how easily their lives could be compromised on a word from the princess and they shifted uneasily before relenting.

"Fine, I'll give you ten minutes, but you will say absolutely nothing of this to the queen," the guard insisted, pleaded really.

Momo gave him some space and nodded gratitude and agreement. They let her through with that and she swiftly found Togata's old chambers, rushing in to find Fuyumi seated on a bench near an open window, holding herself close, gray eyes frozen on the horizon. She was startled by the door opening violently, though and shot to her feet at the sight of Momo coming into the room.

It was so strange to see Fuyumi here. She didn't quite belong. This had been her cousin's home for ten years, this was wear they played games as children and chatted away the night with darkly layered humor and dreams of the future. Now it was a prison for his new bride.

Fuyumi watched Momo cautiously, seeming to choke and tremble, like she was waiting for Momo to do something horrible, but the princess rushed to her and shocked the girl by taking her hand and capturing her gaze.

"Fuyumi tell me me you knew nothing of this assassination attempt. I swear I'll believe you if I just hear you say it."

Gray irises glinted with fresh tears, but she resolutely held the princess's gaze. "Momo I knew nothing about this! I swear on everything! On my mother, my future children! I would rather cut open my own arm then see you hurt like this. You're the first person I've even felt the possibility of growing close to since I was a child. I want us to be kin, not enemies, please believe me!"

Momo didn't need to be a spymaster or some steely eyed interrogator to know Fuyumi wasn't lying. Every word rang with heart and truth and the hurt of a girl who had just seen the possibility of normalcy and happiness ripped away from her. She gripped the princess's hand tightly and even laid her teary face to it, wetting her skin.

"I believe you," Momo choked, lifting Fuyumi's head, "But I'm scared for you. I've never seen my father like this. He doesn't blame you, but...I fear for what this will mean. He's gathering his men to ride to Tarlson today, to face your father for what he believes he's done. If this turns into another war…"

Fuyumi bit her lips and shook her head. "I won't be safe or welcomed here… And...oh my god, Tenya! They'll kill him! Momo, please if you cannot help me, then find a way to help him! I still have a chance of coming out of this unscathed, but he…"

Momo's stomach dropped, remembering her father's words and her own deep fear for the Commander. He didn't deserve to die for this and if a war was to come, she could hardly imagine a different outcome for him.

"I don't know what I can do," Momo bemoaned, "My father and mother won't listen to me. All they hear when I talk is the ramblings of a spiteful child."

"But we have to do something," Fuyumi stepped away, fingers gripping into her long hair, "I don't believe my father would even do this! I've never heard him talk about usurpation or this sort of skeevy action. He's a man that acts on force not underhandedness. He would never use an assassin. If he truly wanted to usurp the throne he would have marched to your front door and demanded it with a fight. And of all things Tenya would have known about it! That assassin called him soft hearted and he is in many ways, but my father trusts the Iidas completely. He would have no reason to hide it from him. Tenya would have known!"

Momo held herself close while Fuyumi paced and spoke quickly.

"Perhaps when the king reaches Tarlson, your father could explain…"

Fuyumi turned a look on Momo that made her fall silent and drove home how foolish it was to even consider.

"My father will take the very act of marching onto his Lordship unannounced as an act of aggression and there will be no talking," Fuyumi said, "The moment he sees the king's army he will send his own to meet it."

"What if he was warned and given the opportunity to defend himself to the king?" Momo suggested, "What if someone rode ahead of the armies and let Lord Enji know about the misunderstanding before an army marches into Tarlson? Arrange for them to meet on mutual grounds and talk it over instead."

Fuyumi considered it and then shook her head again. "He's so mistrustful, I don't think a messenger would be enough."

The princess prepared to speak and stopped herself multiple times as a rather terrible idea started forming. She didn't want to be shot down, but she didn't see another option to stop the bloodshed before it started.

"He would listen to his own Commander," Momo caught Fuyumi amidst her pacing, "What if I was able to get Commander Tenya free and sent him to Tarlson to intercept?"

There was a second round of consideration playing over Fuyumi's features, before she responded.

"Perhaps...but it may not be enough to stop a fight," Fuyumi chewed her lip, "And he may not agree to leave me here."

"If I could assure him of your safety," Momo pushed, feeling that they were close to their answer, "Guarantee him that no harm would come to you then I'm sure I could convince him to go. And Togata has been called home as well. He wouldn't let anything happen to you, I promise that. Especially if I tell him you're innocent."

There was a slow nod, white hair dipping with red flecks sparkling against the early morning sunlight.

"That may work," she agreed, "From the little I know of his character he doesn't seem quick to judge or convict and even Tenya may be easily convinced that Togata would protect me over allowing harm to come. But still...will it be enough?"

"We have to try," Momo swallowed hard, taking Fuyumi's hand again, "I won't sit idly by while my father starts a war over me...we already have haunting one our borders. I want you to be part of my family and I don't want my family to be responsible for more deaths in yours. I'll go there myself if I have to."

Fuyumi's head fell against Momo's shoulder and the younger girl was pulled into her arms. The pale fingers gripped Momo tightly and showed every ounce of desperation in her heart.

"Whatever you can do, please," she begged, "If they fight and Tarlson can't hold...Momo, I can't lose another brother…"

The arm that wasn't still pulsing with the ache of fresh stitches reached around to complete the girl's embrace. Her mind went right to Togata, to the fears that had been so strong with her over the last few days. The fear of losing him. She could see those sorts of feelings in Fuyumi, the heart breaking fear of losing family, the helplessness of being unable to change their fate.

But that wasn't true anymore. Momo could do something. The actions she took now could save Fuyumi's family and restore her own if she had the courage to act.

"You won't," Momo finally replied, leaning their heads together, words strong on her lips, "I promise, Fuyumi, I won't let anyone else be hurt."

"Wow it's so soft! How's that possible? You could sleep on them, but they're still so solid and sturdy and-ah!"

Izuku jerked his hand away shaking the pink skin of his fingertips into the air. An eye as big as his hand turned to settle beside his body, curiously eyeing the tender fingers with the large red slit of his pupil.

"It's a little toasty there, you may want to be careful," Ochako chuckled, coming a little too late with her advice.

Izuku ducked and continued to shake his hand as he stepped out from the underside of the dragon and snatched up the book Tsu had given him, popping one of the fingers in his mouth while he looked for the page that said a dragon's armpit was hot enough to burn skin. Eijiro's head was beside him while he dropped his knees in the grass, the huff of his massive nostrils turning pages.

"Watch it!" Izuku forced the pages down and then glanced over at him sheepishly.

Eijiro had been extremely accommodating to his curiosity about dragons and had even flown he and Ochako out to a spot far enough from the swamp that the ground was dry, solid and clear for him to comb through his book and compare the text and anatomy portraits to the real thing. But Izuku wasn't exactly sure how patient dragons were and didn't want to push his luck. Even if he made for a very nice human boy, Eijiro was a vastly intimidating dragon.

"Are you having fun yet, apprentice?" Ochako dropped her chin in the hand she had propped up on her knee, becoming gradually more disinterested the longer they were out here. She wasn't new to the ins and outs of the flying reptiles

But Izuku was completely enchanted. She may have gotten to spend every day with a real life dragon, but this was entirely new to him and he was going to absorb as much information as possible while his wounds were finishing healing. As soon as Tsu gave him a bill of good health he would have to return to Gaetha, the Center Magesterium and his fun would be over.

"Yes," Izuku threw up a pure smile, "Is the belly a weaker spot because of the softer scales or are they just as strong as the top ones?"

"Doesn't your book say?" Ochako ripped up grass to pass the time.

"It's Tsuyu's book," Izuku corrected, "And it's not completely clear. It talks about the scales being strong but it doesn't say if they're just as strong or if it's technically a vulnerable spot."

Eijiro lightly tapped his snout against Izuku which was enough to knock him over completely, before his long neck craned and his frills ruffled.

"He has no vulnerable spots," Ochako rolled her eyes, "Or so he likes to think. You're reckless, Red."

A low growl preceded a spark hitting the ground by Ochako's feet. She didn't flinch or do anything but stare unblinking up at him, like she was waiting for the real challenge.

"Oh that's my next question actually," Izuku tapped Eijiro's red scales uncertainly, "Should I...well, should I just ask Ochako or…?"

"I think he's gotten a good enough look Red, come down so I don't have to keep explaining for you," Ochako requested, reaching for the basket that they'd brought with them, "We can eat if you-"

She barely finished her sentence before what was once a magnificent behemoth of a reptile had devolved into the form of a starkly naked human boy, sitting at Izuku's side and thrusting out an arm at Ochako excitedly.

"Yes, let's eat!" he shouted as soon as he had a voice to do it with.

The young mage startled at how suddenly it happened and leaned away, trying to keep his eyes on the book and not Eijiro's completely unashamed nudity. Again Ochako didn't seem to be bothered by it, just opened the basket and pulled out a few pastries that Tsuyu had baked earlier, setting one out for each of them. Thankfully the next thing she pulled out was a light robe, like a very simple version of one a mage would wear, and tossed it at the dragon-boy.

"Dress first, please," she said, throwing an amused look at Izuku's pink cheeked face, "You're making the apprentice uncomfortable."

"Sorry," Eijiro laughed, rubbing his neck bashfully as he slipped on the robe and tied the front to save Izuku from the embarrassment of really getting a good look and having to acknowledge whether the dragon's human form was /completely/ human or not. He wasn't nearly as prudish as some of the mages he grew up with, but he was used to a certain level of modesty and a certain level of self awareness that didn't seem to belong to either the dragon or the mage girl.

"It's fine," Izuku waved it off, able to look him in the face comfortably now, "It would be more ridiculous to think your clothes would change with you when you shift forms. Does doing that hurt at all?"

Eijiro shook his head, snatching the pastry before Ochako could make up another reason to stop him from digging in. He took a big bite and encouraged the other two to do the same.

Izuku settled in with his own treat and smiled comfortably at the two of them, almost disturbed at how easy this felt, how calm and peaceful. And how sweet and delicious the pastry was too. They didn't eat much desert growing up in the Magesterium, another of their disciplines, so it was practically like biting into heaven, even though it likely wouldn't compare to any treat a noble was used to.

"What was your question?" Eijiro asked through a mouthful of food, which got a laugh from Ochako.

"Oh right!" Izuku's back straightened, "Are you able to breathe fire? I haven't seen you do it and I'm wondering if it's just an age thing or if maybe some dragons can't."

Eijiro halted from taking another bite of his food, swallowing it down thoughtfully before answering. "I don't know, actually," he hummed, "It hasn't just come naturally and I really don't think much about it. If Ochako hadn't said something I wouldn't have even considered that I could."

"What about the other dragons, don't they breathe fire?"

"Izuku," Ochako caught his attention fully by actually using his name. It was a very cold tone and when he met her eyes their demand was clear. Don't ask that question.

Eijiro was already giving his response though, shifting uncomfortably. "I never got to meet any other dragons so I don't really know."

With a cautious pause and a lingering stare on Ochako, Izuku voiced his next question tentatively. "How did you get here, then? How did you end up in Gaetha?"

There wasn't much left of the pastry, but Eijiro set it back down on its wrapping, eyes on the grass while his mouth made curious shapes.

"I don't know," he shook his head, glancing up at Ochako, "The earliest thing I remember was…"

"Red, you don't have to talk about that," Ochako's tone became very soft, worried. No longer joking or stern. Izuku watched her eyes turn sadly on him and the boy met her gaze with a quick grin.

"It's fine, Ochako," he chuckled, "He's our friend, I'm not scared to talk about it. If it hadn't happened I'd never have met you, so it wasn't all bad."

Ochako shuffled over and settled down next to the dragon boy, slipping her shoulder under his arm, snuggling in close. He made a sound almost like a pur and Izuku couldn't help how his heart fluttered at the sight. Affection was so often discouraged growing up in the Magesterium, but he was naturally so affectionate that it made it difficult for him to care about his friends properly. It was strange and warming to see people draw physical comfort from one another without fearing the scolding bark of a master. He fought the feeling of how badly he wanted to join in the seated cuddle and contented himself to find joy that he was in a place that it was allowed to happen at all.

"If I tell you, though, you have to tell us about yourself," Eijiro flashed a toothy grin to Izuku, "Deal?"

Izuku nodded and shifted to face them, hands open on his thighs.

Eijiro looked back out into the middle distance, curling his arm tightly around Ochako as he dropped his chin on top of her head, his smile falling to a more somber version of itself.

"The first thing I can remember was being in a cage," the air darkened with the calmly spoken words, "I remember being hungry and in pain. There were creatures with big teeth and claws and they were hungry and in pain too. Humans paid to watch us try to kill each other. It was all we knew and we were so hungry that we ripped each other to pieces for a bite. When we weren't fighting to eat and survive they would antagonize us and hurt us so we would be angrier and fight rougher. I guess they thought I was just another mindless animal… People always assume I'm just a vicious creature. I'm tough, don't get me wrong and I can rip a mage in half as you saw...but I don't want to. I never wanted to. I just wanted to be out a cage and fly and not hurt all the time. I wasn't even angry at them, I was just...scared."

"That's terrible," Izuku said softly, instantly thinking back to Yo and how his amazement with Eijiro had seemed to fit that. His first thought at seeing the beautiful masterpiece of a living, breathing dragon, was to take its head as a prize. It made him absolutely sick to look at the soft, innocent face of the sharp toothed boy and imagine that someone willfully wanted to hurt it, as a dragon or a human.

"It was," Ochako pulled a little closer to Eijiro, "He was just a baby, but he was as big as their full grown wildcats. If they had any idea just how big he would get…" she laughed through her nose, "Back then I could almost hold him in my arms."

Red laughed and it sounded somehow warmer after the tragic things he'd said before.

"You fell over when you tried, it was pretty funny."

"How did Ochako find you?" Izuku asked, shifting a little closer again to where his knees were practically touching Eijiro's.

"The men who ran those fights stopped in Landsleave on their way to Tarlson when I was really young, barely learning my own abilities yet," Ochako explained, "I was only about seven years old and I was tragically curious. They had all of their animals on a wagon outside of our town's pub, where they were getting drunk off their asses, and me and a few other kids decided we wanted to see what goods they'd brought into town. There were wolves, wild cats, griffons, and one little red dragon."

Ochako sat up some and ruffled her fingers in the red hair on his head. "The dogs started barking and the cats and griffons tried to claw us through the cages, but the other kids thought it was funny and kept antagonizing them. I didn't like it and I would have run away, but when that kid tried to rattle Eijiro's cage he just looked scared. The men came out and chased us off a few minutes later, but I couldn't get the little dragon out of my head. As soon as they passed out from their drinking I snuck back and saw him again. I gave him one of my mother's pastries and he was practically putty in my hands."

Eijiro grumbled and laid back onto the grass, snatching what was left of his treat as he did. "Your mom is an amazing cook," he smiled fondly as he filled his mouth with what was left of the pastry.

Ochako tilted her head down at him with an endeared smile. "It was far from the smartest thing I've ever done, but I was seven and prone to act on my spur of the moment feelings and I decided I had to help him. He was skinny and beat up and his wings were tattered, but he was so sweet I couldn't just leave him there to be killed by a bigger animal. I used one of my first learned spells to break the cage open and release him. I thought he'd just run away or fly off and I'd never see him again, but he followed me home and then I had to hide him from the ringleaders and then from my parents until it got to the point that it was pretty obvious that there was a dragon under my bed."

"Dragons grow to fit their environment," Eijiro said defensively, "I wasn't in a cage anymore and you were feeding me pastries every day, what did you think would happen?"

"I was seven, I don't know," Ochako opened her arms when she shrugged.

"Why did you stay with Ochako?" Izuku asked warmly.

Eijiro slipped an arm under his head when he turned his almost human eyes to Izuku. There was such sweetness and joy in his face, but he couldn't hide the hurt deep behind them, the pain he still felt from the way he was treated by the first people he ever knew.

"She saved me," he said simply, "She was nice and she didn't hurt me, so why wouldn't I?"

"You make a fair point," the green eyed boy chuckled at the response, "Are those the only qualities you look for in a person or do you have other standards?"

It was meant to be more of a joke, but Eijiro seemed to think hard about it.

"Snacks are pretty important...but you can be my friend anyway, Izuku."

Ochako poked his side and got a very undragonlike giggle from him before he grabbed her in his arms and pulled her down to his chest, snuggling in close again. Ochako settled in easily like it was nothing for those strong arms to drag her in and hold her.

"You have to tell us about you now," Eijiro tapped his chin on top of Ochako's head a couple times.

"Yes, apprentice, do tell," Ochako huffed, a little amused, a little cautious.

Izuku tensed, now realizing what sort of a corner he'd backed himself into. The reality of who he was, what his assignment had been, what his duty and his allegiance told him was right and wrong...knowing that having a picnic with a Renegade Mage was definitely considered wrong. But they already knew full well that he was a Synod Mage and why he'd come to find them in the first place so that wouldn't exactly be new to them. He just wasn't thrilled about bringing it up again after things had been so pleasant between them.

He'd promise, though.

"I'm a Synod mage so my history starts the same as everyone else's," Izuku shrugged, "I used magic before I had the capability to understand what I was doing and after a Synod Mage confirmed I was cursed with magic my family gave me over to the Magesterium."

"I don't like how you use that word," Ochako frowned.

"What?"

"Cursed," Ochako curled a little closer into Eijrio's side.

"You don't believe magic is a curse?" Izuku asked, genuinely curious rather than accusing.

Ochako shrugged. "I don't know. I mean, dragons are all inherently in touch with magic, but we don't call them cursed…"

"Well…" Izuku hesitated, glancing at Eijiro who was blinking up at him waiting for his response. "Well it's actually pretty commonly thought that dragons are inherently evil even if we don't call them cursed. I don't think that's true, especially not after meeting you two, but at the end of the day it's hard to believe anything spawned from the ether can be anything but inherently evil. Maybe not the wielder, but the power."

There was a thoughtful hum from the mage girl. "It's an interesting thought, but I don't know if I'm convinced."

A tap came to Izuku's leg the next second as Eijiro cleared his throat. "Ahem...uh, you were saying?"

"Oh!" Izuku rubbed his neck, realizing they'd gotten off track, "Right. Well I grew up in the Magesterium, so again, I had a pretty standard childhood to most mages. We were taught control and development of our abilities and studied about the world and magic and our roles in it. We live lives of discipline and we attempt to live piously. They always made sure to put our greatest importance on self reformation, to betterment and salvation. We can't change that we're cursed, but we can live in service to try to make up for it."

"That sounds tough," Eijiro frowned, "Did you always have to stay there?"

"It's not an easy life, but it's a worthwhile one," Izuku assured him, noticing his hand was still on his leg when he glanced down, but deciding not to think about it and let himself enjoy the small contact. "And we weren't always in the same place. Every few years we would be switched to different Magesteriums so that we wouldn't grow overly attached to anything and to get well rounded educations. The Masters are pretty strict for the first years, but once you're a teenager they usually allow you to start integrating with the nearby towns a little. It wouldn't make sense for us to be entirely socially inept."

"You seem pretty normal to me," Ochako observed, "Like I said before, you don't really seem like a Synod mage at all. You smile way too much."

Izuku laughed and it made the other two chuckle in response.

"Thank you I suppose," he let that hang, "But all of that changed recently. I'm not a student anymore, none of us are. Last month me and the other mages at our level were evaluated and given our assignments, which pulled all fifty of us from the Magesterium for good."

"Where did you go?" Eijiro asked.

"The Center Magesterium," Izuku couldn't hide the pride in his voice, "It's not like the regular Magesteriums. It's not for raising young mages or training basic spells. It's where the High Circle gathers and where the Magestrate resides. It's where those who will become the greatest mages learn advanced magic and where the entire Synod is governed from. And that's just scratching the surface of what goes on there!"

Ochako was chewing her cheek, despite Eijiro's wide eyed smile at Izuku's enthusiasm. It didn't get past his emerald gaze and he knew that talking positively about the Synod in any sense wasn't going to go over well with the Renegade Mage.

"What kind of stuff did you learn there?" Eijiro kept the conversation going with interest despite Ochako's discomfort.

"Well recently Master Shota taught me a power spell," Izuku lifted his hands and conjured the glyphs as he explained, "It's not the normal sort of long ranged magic we usually do, but it empowers my body to move faster and strike harder than I'd ever be able to at my pique fitness."

Eijiro sat up and got in his space, looking very closely as green darted over his arms in sparking electricity. Even Ochako dropped her scowl to peer over Eijiro's shoulder and get a better look at the magic.

"That's the spell you used when we were fighting back in Landsleave," Ochako observed.

Before Izuku could confirm it he felt his hands being taken into large palms and pulled outward. It was surprising, but not unwelcome. Eijiro was leaning so close to his hands, watching the crackling magic so intently, touching the very magic wrapping around him. It did unstabilize the spell, though, now that Izuku's focus was diverted and it fluttered over his and Eijiro's hands before dying out.

Even Izuku winced at the spark of it falling out of his grip and snapping away without a deliberate end to the spell, but Eijiro didn't flinch despite having been in contact with the light aftershock.

"That's so amazing Izuku!" Eijiro marveled, "I've never seen a spell like that!"

Izuku pulled his hands free from Eijiro and shifted back, suddenly taking full stock of how close they were both hovering to him. He didn't mean it to look so startled, especially as Eijiro flexed his hands in front of his face with a low voiced comment on the strength of his magic.

He noticed Izuku's bashful expression a moment later and tilted his head at it. "Are you alright, Izuku?"

"Yes," he shouted louder than he wanted, "Sorry, I'm just… I'm not used to this sort of thing…"

Ochako twisted her mouth as she dropped onto her haunches at Eijiro's side. "To what? Talking? Does the Synod not allow that either?"

"Talking is fine, it's…"

Closeness. Affection. Real friendships. Openness. Everything Eijiro and Ochako seemed to have between each other. Hand touches, crowding space for no apparent reason. Comfortable proximity. Freedom to embrace attachment.

For some reason, despite knowing the pain it could cause him, it didn't feel wrong to want to be close to them, to want to open his heart and get attached. That was always his problem with every friendship, so quick to attach, so quick to be put in his place or have it taken away.

But they weren't like the Synod mages. They didn't have the precepts of a lifestyle hanging around them. Magically capable as they were, they welcomed their attachments without fear and it was so alluring to Izuku. So alluring that it scared him how easily he wanted to let these attachments happen so his shock made him pull away, like Hitoshi had pulled away from him. Like Shoto had. Like everyone who was serious about the Synod life did.

"Apprentice?" Ochako tilted her head at his silence.

The distant contemplation slipped from Izuku's face as he turned his mouth back into a smile, ready to move away from the subject he didn't want to actually talk about. "Maybe we should get back to Blackmoss before the sun goes down. I'd like Tsu to take another look at my injuries before it gets dark."

"Are they getting worse?" Eijiro's eyes widened.

"No, actually, I think they're about as well as they can be," Izuku assured with a sigh, "If she agrees that I'm as well as I think I am then I can head back tomorrow."

"Oh…" The disappointment on Eijiro's face was poignant and Izuku didn't anticipate how much it would sting.

The young apprentice's face fell too. "I don't think I'll ever be able to repay you for saving my life like this and being here has been amazing...but I have to report back to Master Shota...I have to tell them about Yo and about that Demon. They need to know there are Major Demons beyond Dawnfell, that the summoning isn't being contained. And I'm going to have to explain myself on top of it all."

The grass rustled with how briskly Ochako swept back to her feet and the air chilled against her tight lipped expression while packing the remnants of their snack back into her satchel. Both boys watched her with saddened eyes.

"I understand," Eijiro frowned, "I'm just sad you'll be leaving so soon. I really liked having a new friend."

"Me too," Izuku said softly, almost choking on the words he didn't realize would stick so tightly to his throat.

Izuku quickly grabbed his things as Eijiro tossed his robe back to Ochako and started to morph back into his true form. The girl didn't say anything to either of them as she and Izuku climbed up onto Eijrio's back and took firm hold of his spine ridges. Izuku sat up close behind her, not so confident in this whole flying thing to rely on his ability to hold fast to the dragon on his own. Like everything else with these two it felt strangely right to slip his arms around Ochako's waist and hold tightly. To bury his eyes in her shoulder in the terror that came from being so far from the ground as Eijiro leapt, wings wide, into the air. How comforting the closeness felt in the midst of what couple easily have been panic made every instant of thinking about tomorrow, of things going back to the way they were, sickening and unbearable.

They brought him back to Tsu's house and then went to their own temporary residence in Blackmoss. Izuku thanked Eijiro again for letting him study him and gave them both a pleasant goodnight before they went on their way.

The apothecary girl examined him closely that night, taking full stock of his current health and listening to his need to return with understanding. She asked him to allow one more treatment, for her to feel comfortable that his wounds wouldn't reopen and he agreed to her terms easily.

When she had finished he felt rejuvenated and confident that the wounds would not cause any further problems. The scars were not likely to fade much, but they showed his survival, that he'd faced a Tempest Demon and lived and he couldn't possibly be upset about that.

They had dinner together as usual and when Izuku went to give her back the book on dragons he'd borrowed, she held up her hands.

"Keep it, Izuku," she said, "I haven't seen anyone as eager to learn as you. You'll put it to better use than I will."

It took everything in him not to crush her in a tear filled hug, but he opted instead to give her a grateful bow with a thousand verbalizations of his thanks on top of it. For the book, the healing, the meals… everything. She had no reason to treat him like this, especially as a Synod Mage. Bog mages weren't necessarily enemies of the Synod, but any mage that didn't follow their code was at least deemed outcast or heathen. It didn't serve her to heal him, to let a Synod mage leave her home knowing as much as he did about their defensibility and powers. The Bog Mages weren't currently concerning to the Synod, but Tsu couldn't have known that when she healed him. And it didn't mean it would always be that way. The Synod's reach was always stretching and there was no guarantee anyone would remain out of it forever. Izuku had no plans to reveal them, but the trust that Tsu expressed in allowing him to leave touched him in a way he was not prepared for.

And right when he thought the young Bog Mage had reached the full potential of her charity, Tsu pulled out two more books from her shelves and placed them in his hands once she got him to stop tearfully sputtering. One was on shapeshifting magic and the other was labeled simply, Forbidden Art of the Fallen. When asked why she would give him these she repeated what she had said before. That he would make better use of them than she would.

As night fell and Izuku took his newly patched Synod robes in hand, it really stuck that his time here was over, that he was moving on so quickly. That everything would be back to the way it was in less than a day. One of the neighbors had given him a pack and Tsu helped him fill it with crucial supplies that he now placed three books on top of.

The robes fell on his shoulders with a weight he had forgotten after so many days in the light material of Bog Mage clothing. But the heavy feelings originated deeper inside of him. Pushing his chest to his stomach.

A knock came before the door creaked open and an unmistakable head of bright red hair peaked inside. Izuku naturally smiled, surprised since he expected that Eijrio had gone to bed already.

"Hey, Izuku," Eijiro hung in the doorway, "Me and Ochako are going to fly you back to Landsleave."

A butterfly fluttered in Izuku's heart. "Really?"

Eijiro opened the door the rest of the way and nodded. "We need to go home anyway. Her parents are probably worried sick and we're concerned about the Demon too. It would be a hard thing to have missed and I'm sure Tarlson sent people to contain the damage, but it's still scary for an unprotected village, especially when they usually have a dragon nearby to help out." He rubbed his neck with grit teeth on the last part.

"I hadn't thought about that," Izuku frowned at himself, "I took you two away from your home all this time…"

"Tarlson is right there," Eijiro laughed, "They're almost as strong as Dawnfell when it comes to dealing with Demons. I'm sure they're fine. There's no need to worry."

"I hope you're right," Izuku said somberly as he buttoned the pack up and took his staff in hand.

"Me too," Eijiro responded in a similar tone, "But we're going to leave at the crack of dawn. We don't want to wake up Tsu to come get you so...would you be okay with staying with me and Ochako tonight?"

Izuku's cheeks flushed and he was suddenly unable to look at the boy. He had no idea why. It hadn't been an inherently inappropriate suggestion or anything.

"Well…"

"You don't have to if you don't want to!" Eijiro said hurriedly, "I mean we kind of thought...well Ochako says that...things will be different after tomorrow. That you'll have to go back to being a Synod Mage and we'll be your enemies again and…"

The air got heavy as the weight in Izuku's chest seemed to reach the environment. He couldn't look the young dragon in the face, human eyes or not.

"I'm sorry, Eijiro, I wish it didn't have to be that way, but…"

"You don't have to apologize!" Eijiro laughed to break the tension, "I understand...I think. But we really just thought that this might be the last few hours we can still be friends so, why not at least spend them together?"

Izuku smiled warmly to himself, his insides melting as he finally met the almost nervous stance of the boy in his doorway.

"I'd like that."

Eijiro's eyes shot up, wide open with a grin to end all smiles. "Really?"

Izuku swept the pack onto his back and took a strong hold of the staff, bright eyes on Eijiro.

"Why not stave off reality for a bit longer?"

Katsuki didn't want to go inside with Shoto, but he didn't want to be out on the street either. No matter what he felt about being stuck surrounded by mages and magic, he wanted to be seen and recognized by the people of Dawnsend even less.

Usually he'd thrive in it, soak up the praise and let the townspeople fawn over him. He liked the attention. He liked the starstruck eyes of the young girls. He liked the respectful bows he got from men older and more experienced than him. But even if the nature of their mission was not so precarious, he wouldn't have wanted that attention this time anyway. The last time he'd returned from war, the victory had been resounding, the Lord Commander led the march back to the Keep all the while singing his praises and clapping a fresh promotion on him. They'd brought their soldiers home. They'd left survivors behind. Quelled the southern uprising and brought their lands under Danwfell control.

Bloody as that war had been it was nothing compared to the battle at the encampment. This return was no victory. He no longer had the brow of a hero to boast of. Just the weight of heavy casualties and shame of retreat.

Against his preferences, he allowed Shoto to lead the way once they entered the two towering oak doors into the magnificent structure of Dawnfell's Synod Seat. This was Shoto's world and he would hopefully know what he was doing behind these walls better than Katsuki, not that he had all that much faith that the young mage wouldn't just piss himself and run when faced with the first obstacle, though. His hands were practically shaking on his tightly held staff to the point where Katsuki had to fight down the need to scream at him for behaving so suspiciously.

Luckily there were very few people inside of the Seat. There was a much older mage just inside the atrium, a scrawny, wrinkly old man who appeared as though he'd already been buried and dug him back up for one more day of work. He was no obstacle to them. He asked for Shoto's name and looked over his fake orders briefly before pointing them in the direction of the Stationmaster upon Shoto's request.

They were just about to move on, Katsuki thanking their good luck that it was just some old crone who's eyes were probably already too gone to see the orders let alone question them, when Shoto turned a crooked look over the open, empty interior of the Seat and then back to the old man.

"Where's the Headmaster?" Shoto asked.

The old guy raised a wildly untamed eyebrow and shrugged dismissively. "Headmaster Mirko left with the Griffin Cohort more than a month ago. We're just a skeleton crew now."

Shoto's already pale skin, paled further as he thanked the old man and moved along through echoing, high ceilinged structure. Katsuki crossed his arms at his back as he stalked after him, hood still over his face. The mage looked confused, his gait quicker than normal and hands still unsteady.

It was about to drive Katsuki up a wall to watch and he forcefully grabbed Shoto's shoulder from behind, digging his fingers in as he pulled him back to a slower pace.

"Calm the fuck down, you're acting suspicious as hell," Katsuki hissed.

Shoto tried to shrug his hand away, but Katsuki gripped tighter.

"A Synod Seat should never be this empty," Shoto whispered, not exactly to Katsuki. "Even with Master Ferris dead there should be someone here to take over for him. Why would the Headmaster and battle mages all have left?"

The Captain planted his feet, forcing Shoto to stop. The old man hadn't been joking about how bare the Seat was right now. He'd seen a total of three mages in the vast building and none looked to be at their pique physical level or younger than seventy.

Even if the remaining staff of the Synod Seat weren't so old that they'd likely all lost half of their hearing anywhere, they weren't within range to know what Katsuki was saying.

"That's the whole reason they sent us your shit cohort," Katsuki bit, "You're precious Magestrate took Headmaster Mirko and all of her battle mages and sent them away to fuck know's were just before the Summoning started with no information on whether they'd ever come back. They sent us that asshole Master Ferris and some half baked battle mages instead, with just enough men to make a passable force at the front. Lord Sorahiko demanded an explanation and the Synod wouldn't give him anything past, 'they're needed elsewhere'. For fuck's sake, don't you have a clue why you even ended up here?"

Shoto stayed staring straight ahead, but his shakiness had stopped.

"I was just given orders and followed them," Shoto whispered curtly, "I…" a long breath left him, laced with disappointment, "I suppose it just shows how right Nana was. For whatever reason the Synod has been faltering in its duty."

"You fucking think?" Katsuki scoffed, feeling like he was probably bruising Shoto's shoulder at this point, but not caring, "We trained with those men! They weren't Synod lackeys like you and Ferris's men. They came from all over, but when we got through with them they were Dawnfelden through and through. Their whole lives were based around fighting and ending Summonings and right when we needed them they fucking left. Dawnfell was stuck unprepared and scrambling with an Archdemon on our horizon and no fucking mages."

"I suppose that explains why you have such a poor opinion of us," Shoto said very blandly, like a vaguely interesting observation.

Katsuki grit his teeth in annoyance and finally let go of Shoto's shoulder to shove him and make him start walking again. But Shoto continued speaking despite Katsuki's heated grumbling.

"I don't blame you," he said softly, startling Katsuki, "I've felt abandoned by the Synod before too. Being sent here to this hell on earth was my abandonment and rejection from the Synod. I know what it's like. If I were you I'd probably mistrust mages too."

He didn't like how almost sympathetic that tone was, even though the mage still hadn't even looked back at him. But on the upside his nervous fidgetiness had subsided a lot as they'd talked and when he approached the Stationmaster office it was with a lot more confidence than Katsuki expected.

The Captain sucked his teeth indignantly as he walked behind him.

"I don't mistrust all mages, just… Just do your fucking job and we won't have a problem."

"We won't," was the short response.

They continued through the door and Shoto approached the one person inside with confidence that he hadn't embodied before. His Synod Master was showing and it was about time.

Katsuki stayed back at the doorway, staying as unnoticeable as he could, but observantly swept his eyes across the filled room, lined with bookcases, stacked with boxes of materials. At the back were rows of mage weapons, mainly staffs. The basic kind. Nothing of interest to the Captain. All he needed was his enchanted shield and his sword.

Shoto presented his orders to the Stationmaster, old like the man at the door, and he assessed them closely while turning up quizzical glances to the other mage.

"They're making them younger and younger," he simply commented offhandedly to himself and handed the page back, "What do you need?"

"A Honing Stone," Shoto's voice was even, emotionless. It was his natural voice after all.

"Tall order," the man raised an eyebrow, "We only ever keep two extra in any Seat...didn't the Synod give you one at the Center Magesterium?"

Katsuki tensed, facing flushing under his cowl, feeling they were about to be called out on their bullshit. But Shoto stayed incredibly calm, not even doing that shaky hand thing from before.

"Our resources are stretched thin just as yours are," he shrugged, "You have two so that means you have more than you need. Don't keep me waiting any longer, old man."

The Captain huffed almost amused surprise. There was that haughty entitled tone he knew so well. Not just from Shoto, but Synod Mages in general. He'd hadn't known the Griffin Cohort to have those attitudes, but they were the exception, not the rule when it came to the Synod.

The man made a displeased sound in his throat, but brushed it off quickly and disappeared behind a sealed door that he had to unlock with a spell all while he muttered to himself about "this generation of mages".

"I didn't take you to disrespect your elders," Katsuki grinned with amusement under his hood once the old man was out of sight.

Shoto turned back a glare to him. "I'm playing the damn part," he hissed in a whisper just before the old mage slipped back in and cast his spell to lock down the room once again.

The Stationmaster tightly held a piece of cloth in his hand and moved to stand in front of Shoto. His hand slowly unfolded and he peeled back the cloth to reveal the polished blue oval of a Honing Stone. Katsuki's head lifted some to get a better look out of curiosity. He'd heard of these engenuinitive little devices before, but he'd never seen one in use.

Apparently it was fairly new to Shoto too, because his hand hovered over it hesitantly, like he was afraid to touch it. Katsuki could see his stupid eyes get wide on it, before he shook himself of his awe and stiffened up, snatching it, clothing covering and all, and placing it in that chest pocket inside of his robes.

While he had the Stationmaster there and willing to provide assistance, he requested a few other items, a map of Gaetha, a pack, and a few enchanted talismans of various functions. With another gruff grunt the old man acquired those things as well and situated them in the requested pack, before snapping at him to be on his way. Despite being a little shit before, Shoto gave the old man a respectful bow before leaving, though the old man didn't seem to care.

The walk back out was so long.

Now that they had the stone the tension in the air was poignant, but they faced no further opposition on their way out. Who was really going to stop them? A few old men with barely enough strength to cast a spell?

Even still, the collective sigh of relief once they were out of those large doors and onto the descending steps was resounding and caused the two to meet sharp glares. It held for an indignant amount of time, but Shoto's eyes shifted away first.

"Why is it like this?"

They were at the base of the Seat's steps and his mismatched gaze turned back up to its quiet entrance.

"Like what? Dismal and pathetic?" Katsuki crossed his arms.

"More or less," Shoto shrugged, "I thought the Griffin Cohort was the pride of the Synod. Dawnfell is the damn watchdog of the kingdom… how is your Synod Seat just a few old men in a dusty old building?"

"I already told you, the Magestrate took them away," Katsuki hissed, "And you already know what happened to their pathetic replacements…"

Shoto's shoulders lowered, while he lightly shook his head, moving to take up their path back to the pub. "You really have no respect for the dead."

"If I didn't respect them in life, why would I respect them in death?" Katsuki growled.

Shoto didn't offer a response to that and they continued in uncomfortable silence through the next stretch of busy street. Once they had turned into the less bustling part of town that silence ended.

"I thought when I came to Dawnfell that it was the Griffin Cohort I was joining," Shoto said, seemingly to Katsuki, but it wasn't pointed enough for him to be sure, "It didn't make me any more happy about this shit assignment, but it would have been less disappointing than to serve under Master Ferris. I never even thought to ask what became of the Cohort, I guess I just assumed they were holding ground here in Dawnsend… But where are they now if not at the forefront of a Summoning? I can't help thinking what might have happened if they'd been here. If Headmaster Mirko had led instead of Ferris. If they had been there instead of us, would-?"

"Stop," Katsuki said sharply, causing Shoto to plant his feet and Katsuki to glower at him.

"Are you going to tell me I'm wrong?" Shoto tightened his lips.

The Captain made a disgusted face at him. "Fuck no! If the people training their entire damn lives to fight this specific threat had been there, then you bet your sorry Synod ass my men might still be alive. I just don't want to listen to your damn pity party. Of course it's your fucking fault that they're all dead. It's the entire fucking Synod's fault!"

Katsuki expected a tight browed, pissy response, but Shoto's eyes simply fell with sparing glances to their surroundings to make sure they weren't overheard.

"It's too damn late," Katsuki growled, agitated, "The Griffin Cohort was gone before that Archdemon set foot in Dawnfell and we stood our ground like we were trained to do and we fell and died like we knew would happen. But with what Nana told us, chances are that this shit all might have happened anyway… If you can't beat the Archdemon you can't beat the damn Summoning. Every fucking way you look at it we were sent out there fucked and a bunch of mages weren't going to change that, Griffin Cohort or not. So stop thinking so fucking highly of yourself. Nothing you damn mages could do was going to change anything!"

A short breath left Shoto's nose and it sounded...amused?

"You have a strange way of making people feel better, Captain," Shoto raised an eyebrow.

Katsuki's cheeks burned and his hands turned to fists. "I wasn't trying to make you feel better, you stupid shit! All I'm trying to say is that wondering what might have been is a waste of time and your self pity makes me want to vomit! There's nothing pitiable about you, you fucking survived, didn't you? Faced that Archdemon and a damn undead army and lived, didn't you? You held your own in a fucking war and your no better or older than an apprentice so I don't want to hear that shit about what would have been different if it had been somebody else. I don't care!"

The corner of Shoto's mouth tugged only slightly. If it was supposed to be a smile it wasn't a good one. He gave Katsuki a nod, something that looked almost grateful and began walking past him, taking back their path to the pub without a response to the very heated rant.

Katsuki was simply boiling with frustration as he stomped after him, fighting himself to not lash out in the middle of the street. Even in this less busy part of town it could draw attention.

"If I had been a part of the Griffin Cohort like I thought I would be," Shoto mused distantly as he walked, ignoring Katsuki's bad attitude, "Would we have been friends?"

Katsuki glared hard at him, making sure he could see it. "Are we friends now?"

Shoto shrugged. "Fair point."

"It's not just that they lived here and fought our wars, mage," Katsuki tightened his hands, thinking about the mages who'd fought by their sides in the past, "They weren't from here, but they were Dawnfelden to the core. They were actually people, unlike the rest of you fuckers. There's a reason no other Cohort ever matched them. No other Cohort was willing to become something less Synod. You'd never have even made it into the Griffin Cohort. For that you'd have to drop your entitled dumbfuck attitude! Do you really think you could have let yourself be fucking human and devoted your life to something bigger than yourself?"

The air around Shoto seemed to chill.

"Is that not what we're all doing now?"

Katsuki almost argued, but then he remembered what Shoto had said the night before. He wasn't rejecting the Synod like Nana had, but by helping this quest he wasn't following their rules either. He was placing himself in a position on severe consequence and had already accepted the reality of life altering punishment. There was no self-serving angle that Katsuki could find to Shoto's involvement and yet he was here. If anything he was damning himself, both in regards to his future and to the beliefs that mages carried with them. The beliefs of their tainted souls and the awaiting damnation for those cursed people who had not thoroughly redeemed themselves in life.

Katsuki let himself chuckle indignantly, rolling his eyes at Shoto. "Fair point."

When they returned to the pub, nightfall was upon them and the pub was more alive than ever. Denki and Mina were right in the middle of it, flaggons raised with the other patrons, warbling sea shanties they barely recalled the words to.

At a table away from the uproar of drunks and goodtimers Nana sat across from Kyouka in hushed, intense conversation that wouldn't have been interrupted for anything besides the sight of Shoto and the Captain. Katsuki was more than happy to break up that conversation anyway, having only just reached the point of trust with Nana and far from liking the idea of Kyouka being of interest to the mage or anyone else. They didn't seem to realize that she wasn't just untrustworthy, but a damn bitch on top of it.

Either way the rest of the brabble had determined that she was welcome so he couldn't stop her from following them upstairs. Nana tried to get Denki and Mina to come as well, but they waved her off, saying she could catch them up later. They were far too plastered to add anything to the conversation anyway so that was no loss.

Back inside one of the rented room they crowded around the only available surface, the bed, and Shoto immediately pulled the Stone from his chest pocket, catching his own breath as he opened his palm and the cloth over the bed and let everyone take in the smooth rock. Katsuki couldn't see anything incredibly remarkable about it. At a glance it didn't look any more special that decoration around a potted plant. But even Katsuki was aware that it was more than what it seemed. Honing Stone came from the Ether, a physical piece of the other side, a place that no living man had seen or touched.

Nana was as intrigued as Shoto was, slowly holding her hand out beneath Shoto's.

"Amazing," she marveled as Shoto let it fall into her hands, "I've never seen one in person. Incredible that something so small can affect so much…"

"It's pulsing so strong with the Ether it's almost making me sick," Shoto commented, shaking his head, "I've never felt something that potent…"

While Kyouka looked over Nana's hand to get a good look, Nana's brow twisted.

"I don't feel anything more than an inkling of power from it," she said.

Shoto just shrugged, seeming distracted as he reached into the pack he'd received from the Stationmaster and started to lay out a map, aligning it's placement with their current facing.

"How exactly does this work?" Kyouka asked, tapping a gentle finger against the stone's surface.

"That doesn't concern you, whore," Katsuki snapped, getting a biting look for his response.

Her face momentarily flushed, probably anger and embarrassment, but she didn't say anything to him, Nana was replying before she got the chance.

"Honing Stones come from the ether," Nana explained, setting it down in the center of the map and chewing her cheek thoughtfully, "Besides the demons, monsters, and horrors that pass through, these are the only physical pieces of the ether ever to touch our world and they hold a unique connection to it."

"They are drawn to the ether," Shoto took over, crouching down beside the bed, "Something in them pulls them to go back. They seek out something to return through like a breach. An opening."

"A Summoner," Katsuki finished.

Shoto nodded. "When a mage opens the rift between our world and the ether, the effects of the ether cling to them and that connection with the ether remains with them for life. That's why a Summoner has to be killed after an Archdemon is banished, because if it happens again the Synod has to be able to track the new Summoner without the confusion of it being drawn to the last."

"It's a messy business fighting a Summoning," Kyouka shook her head as the mages leaned close to the stone.

All three survivors of the encampment exchanged looks, before shaking off the cold fingers crawling up their spines. The youthful bard had no clue how generous that statement was.

"Indeed it is," Nana sighed, "But without an attunement with the ether, the stone is nothing more than a stone. Only mages can use it, which is why it has always fallen to the Synod to hunt the Summoner."

She ran a finger over the stone and tilted her mouth. "I think you should try to connect with it, Shoto."

The younger mage drew back and stared at her narrowly. "Only Masters are ever allowed to use them, I don't think I should. You're older and have more experience, you should."

Nana scoffed and rolled her eyes, "I'm no Synod Master. I could do it, don't get me wrong, but you should. I don't know how this is, but I think you have a deeper connection to the ether than I do, than anyone I've ever met actually. The stone is nothing more than a dull hum of the ether to me, but to you…"

Katsuki turned an eyebrow up amidst his glare to Shoto. The old woman was claiming that Shoto had a stronger tie to the source of their magic than she did and after what he'd seen her do at the encampment he wasn't sure he liked that idea.

"What are you saying?" Shoto looked confused, looking at the other faces for clarification that they couldn't give.

Nana chuckled. "I don't really know, Shoto, I can't explain it either. But I think it will work better if you're the one using it." She nodded down at the stone and opened her hands encouragingly for him to take it.

There was tangible hesitation from Shoto as he psyched himself up to pick it up again and kept assessing the other eyes in the room around him. His other hands spread out onto the map, shakily. He winced a few times and shuddered, but nothing was happening.

"Just fucking do it already," Katsuki said loudly.

Shoto's eyes fell tensely closed. "It's not easy to focus on a spell while the ether is practically shrieking at me, so please shut up."

Katsuki met Nana's gaze and they both held confusion and curiosity. The Captain had never felt whatever the ether was supposed to feel like before and he knew mages could sense it to some degree, but he'd also never heard someone describe its effect as a "shriek". And Shoto hadn't been this agitated by it on their walk back, perhaps it had to do with skin contact. Maybe that's why the old man had it wrapped up.

Everyone stayed quiet while Shoto stood up straight and focused. One hand held the stone in front of his chest while the other hovered above the map as blue glyphs started to form and the air got a bit colder. Katsuki didn't even think that was the stone, just Shoto.

Streams of living light danced out from his fingers and then a burst of blue shot out from between his shut eyelids, knocking a gasp out of the young mage. Katsuki stepped back, hand instinctively going to his sword. The living light crawled over the page below, spreading slowly as Shoto's eyes moved frantically behind his eyelids. It continued for a full ten more seconds and then suddenly the light vanished.

Shoto blinked back to the room and shoved the stone away. Nana took it quickly and assessed him with concern as he breathed heavily and came back to himself.

"What the hell was that?" Kyouka tilted her head at the dazed looking mage.

Shoto swallowed heavily as they all went quiet, waiting on his answer.

"It's...hard to explain," he shook his head, "It was like a vision, but it was fast and it-it felt like it was pulling me and dragging me through paths and roads and I saw...there was a dark rift, a tear in the fabric of the world...but then it was a person and-"

He held his head and groaned on the ache of it. "It showed me the Summoner, but I couldn't see his face, just what the stone sensed of him, that breach between our world and the ether."

"Where is he?" Katsuki asked, now holding his sword in an irrational sense of preparation to fight the man in question.

Shoto's eyes turned down. His finger fell onto the map at the end of a slightly scorched trail that the lights had created.

Katsuki bared his teeth. It was the opposite direction of the frontlines, of the encampment, the barrier. The stone was directing them deeply inland, practically across the kingdom.

"I thought you said the Summoner was with the Archdemon the day you fought it," Katsuki gripped a hand in his hair.

"He was," Nana's eyes just were as wide, "That was only a week ago. It's physically possible to make it all the way there in under that time, but…"

Kyouka's fists leaned into the mattress, brow tight, confusion matching theirs as she voiced what was on every mind.

"But why go to Tarlson?"


	11. Fear and Affection

Surprisingly Momo received less resistance going to the dungeons than in visiting Fuyumi. The guards there were less familiar with her and all they saw was royalty demanding to see a prisoner. They didn't offer questions, it wasn't how they were trained. They just obeyed and led her to the cell.

The Commander had his elbows propped on his knees, seated on the cot at the back of the small space, his eyes boring into his hands intensely. His armor was gone, he was dressed like an ordinary man now, but his broad shoulders and high head told his status without the embellishments.

His eyes lifted in surprise to see the girl on the other side of the bars, especially when she ordered the guard to return to his post and let her speak to him alone. The hesitance from the guard was poignant, but he bowed and did as he was told.

The moment he was out of earshot, Momo's fists were around the bars and her haughty stance fell, desperation filling her eyes.

"Commander I have to talk to you!" she said in a quiet, frantic voice, "Please trust me, I did everything in my power to stop my father from taking this course, but he and his armies left for Tarlson hours ago! Commander he means to wage war on your Lord over me and I don't want this!"

Commander Tenya was on his feet in an instant at her words, approaching the cell door with purpose.

"Your highness I swear this couldn't be an act by Lord Enji!" he plead his case once again, "I would never have sat by and allowed such harm to come to you either way, please you must believe me!"

"I do," Momo held up her hands to calm him, "I spoke to Fuyumi and she said much the same thing. That even if such a plan was Lord Enji's that he wouldn't go about it this way."

At the mention of her Commander Tenya's eyes widened and he grabbed the bars.

"Is Fuyumi alright? You haven't let them harm her, have you?"

Momo shook her head, "Of course not! And I promise no harm will come in any case. Togata has been called home. He will protect his bride, I promise you. But Commander we have to do something before my father begins a war that could end your Lord's life as well as your own!"

"We? What are we to do? Your father wouldn't listen to you and I'm in a cell!" Large fingers dug into black, cropped hair.

Momo looked around, confirming no ears could catch her words.

"Commander… I believe we are in the middle of a misunderstanding that can be rectified. If Lord Enji is warned and given the chance to defend himself then perhaps my father might listen and believe him. If you and I can outpace my father's armies and get them the chance to speak rather than fight we could stop the war before it begins!"

Commander Tenya pondered that hard, his expression tight. He pulled back and paced the small space of his cell.

"It's possible. Lord Enji is brash, but not without reason. And if both he and you are standing together telling the King that the assassination attempt was not from Tarlson then he would have to see the reason of it. But… How are we supposed to get there, me as a prisoner of war and you as the ever watched, closely guarded princess? And what will become of Fuyumi? We can't simply leave her!"

"I can get you out of here," Momo said more confidently than she felt, "I've lived in this castle my entire life and I can lead us out unnoticed. We can grab horses from the stables and slip out in the dead of night. And I've already spoken to Fuyumi about this… It's unwise to attempt freeing her and taking her with us, but we agreed that she would be safe here and that by resolving this threat of war we will guarantee her safety more than a prison break would."

Tenya's teeth ground, fists tensed at his sides. "I...I don't trust your guard or your cousin to protect her, your highness. Please understand that. I can't leave her behind…"

His voice softened with each word and grew steadily disheartened. It cut Momo in ways she didn't expect, something that stung bitterly, but also ached with sympathy.

She reached into one of the pockets in the skirt of her dress and pulled out a sealed piece of paper that she held out to him through the bars. "Fuyumi said you would say something like that… She asked me to give you this."

His head snapped up and he quickly took the page, inspecting the seal, the rose circled in flames. He broke it and dove into the contents with a hurt expression painting his usually regal face. It stung to see how painful this was for him to consider.

Momo didn't know what it said, she hadn't pried, just let the teary girl scrawl her words quickly and push a rushed seal on the folded paper before handing it to the princess. Whatever the words said seemed to strike Tenya, though, dragging that pain from his eyes until finally he folded it back and held it tight in his hands looking back to Momo.

"How do you plan to break me out?"

Momo sighed, relieved that he'd agreed, even if he hadn't said the words. But that did leave the bigger issue. Freeing him.

"I'm the princess," Momo's mouth shifted, "If I tell the guards to leave for an hour they will. I'm more worried about Toru. They said she was supposed to keep a close eye on me and the fact that she has the ability to turn invisible makes her especially dangerous to us. I'll have to make sure I know where she is and that she'll stay busy."

"But how?" Tenya came back to the bar, brow pulled into one.

Even as the words left his mouth a chime sounded, echoing from the world above them.

Their eyes shot up as the chiming continued and Momo caught her breath, freezing in place. Those same bells had sounded the night before when an assassin had been found in her room.

She and the Commander looked around and then to each other, neither certain what this meant. They didn't have to wonder for long, before two new guards rushed in, panic in their eyes, going straight to Momo's side.

"Your highness, come with us immediately!" one of them said frantically, "The assassin has escaped, we must get you to safety."

Momo's throat tightened and she planted her feet when a hand took her arm.

"Wait-"

"Please come with us," the guard insisted, tugging even though she tried to jerk away.

The very idea that the assassin was loose sent her head into a frenzy, but she couldn't leave Tenya without releasing him. This was even more reason for her to leave tonight, to run.

"No I'm not-"

The other guard moved to help force her to leave but he made the mistake of getting too close to the cell and within arms reach of the Commander. His helmeted head crashed into the bars, jarring his head in the metal enclosure. Tenya's arm looped under his chin and pinched his neck to the iron bars as he yanked the sword from the guard's sheath.

The other guard dropped Momo's arm and whipped out his own blade, but Momo's adrenaline filled panic sent her slamming her entire body into the guard, taking him so off guard that the sword clattered across the room as he crashed to the floor.

In a frenzy Momo rushed back to the guard Tenya was holding and grabbed the keys from his belt as he thrashed against the Commander's arm, turning blue. While the other was getting back to his feet, slowed by the weight of his armor, Momo went for the lock.

"Your highness what are you-"

The guard that had just gotten back to his feet hit the ground once again as Tenya sent the other flying towards him with a sharp kick from behind.

The lock clicked and the door swung open.

Tenya moved between Momo and the guards, sword outstretched to them, as they tried to get back up.

"Move aside," Momo snapped at them.

They stared stunned at her and then at the sword pointed at their faces, their own weapons out of reach. They tried to argue again, but Momo cut them off.

"Stand in my way again and I will see you both executed!" she shouted.

Slowly they both stood and moved aside as Momo and Tenya shifted around. Tenya waved the sword towards the cell door and they complied hesitantly, slipping inside before it was slammed closed behind them and locked.

Tenya then looked to Momo, strangely calm and collected considering the situation and the threat now loose in the castle. "Lead the way."

Momo swallowed hard and ran ahead of him.

This hadn't been her plan. She had thought to maybe come back later after already tacking the horses to flee and preferably wearing something that didn't weigh this much. But the fear and adrenaline of hearing that her assassin was let loose changed everything and they would have to make do in the rush of things.

There were a couple more guards outside of the entrance to the dungeon, but they were nothing for someone as experienced as the Commander to put out of commission. He was careful as well, not leaving wounds that could kill, but causing a debilitating amount of pain. They were just doing their jobs after all, they saw an escaped prisoner and the princess who's life was in danger and were acting. They didn't deserve to be harmed, but there were bigger things happening right now. They had an entire war to stop.

Momo led him out of the main part of the castle, keeping out of sight of the men running to their posts and the servants rushing to safety while the castle went into chaos for the second time in so short a time. Luckily the regular guards didn't recognize Tenya, but Momo was someone everyone was looking for at the moment and she knew how much she stood out.

As soon as they'd snuck into the west wing, Momo ducked into the servants quarters, waving Tenya to follow. The servants gasped as seeing her there, especially at a time like this, but she begged for their silence and they quieted down immediately. She asked one of the servants, one her handmaids to quickly give her some clothes, something that wouldn't stand out. She hurriedly obliged, assuming it was to help her hide from the loosed assassin.

Tenya stayed hidden while Momo quickly threw on the drab clothes of the castle staff, taking a pair of breaches rather than the skirt of a handmaiden, considering the horseback ride they would likely be taking. The handmaiden took her hair down from the intricate braids and removed every adornment, pulling the long black hair to the side and tying it in a simple ponytail. In a matter of minutes she was indistinguishable from a commoner and even Tenya had to do a double take when she reentered the hushed room beside the castle kitchens.

The servants didn't know what was going on, but Momo thanked her handmaiden immensely, before guiding Tenya deeper into the west wing. Little known to most there was a back entrance to this side of the castle, meant for the servants to slip in and out into the city from the castle without being seen. It kept their comings and going invisible except to the king's personal guard who monitored it, servants were not meant to be seen. Most of his guard had left with the king, though, and those who remained were not the king's best.

Without his armor Tenya was more exposed, but he moved quicker. The guards didn't stand a chance. It didn't make watching him fight them off any less terrifying to witness, but it was also amazing. She marveled with wonder-filled eyes as he crashed his heel into the remaining guard's knee and cracked it back in a way it was not supposed to bend and then smoothly whipped the butt of his sword around to crash into his skull.

Try as she might she couldn't keep the butterflies in her heart still. She couldn't help it. He was incredible and extremely handsome while he did it.

Momo took the lead again, guiding him through this last stretch.

She and Togata had played down in the west wing a lot as children; mostly because her father told them not to and her mother scolded them for spending so much time among the servants. It was that Cantican blood in her, that superiority that led her to demand her daughter put herself above others. Her father didn't feel any such way, he just didn't want her playing where she was likely to get hurt. All of it was more than enough incentive to spend an inordinate amount of time here.

The nostalgia burned rather than warmed her. Everything about this was biting. The part where she was breaking a prisoner of war from his cell, the part that her assassin was free and likely hunting her down once again, the part where her father was marching to war, the part where they were leaving Fuyumi locked in a gilded cage until they could resolve this. With all of that present in her mind the things that should have made her happy or feel at home all tasted bitter now.

When they emerged from the pathway, they were at the back of the stable yards, one gate between them and the city. It was already locked down and guards were scattered around the courtyard.

Momo and Tenya ducked behind stacks of feed and assessed the situation.

"What do we do?" he asked, "There's guards all over the place… Do you have another secret exit?"

Momo bit her cheek and shook her head. "No. But we don't need to get through the big gate. That one over there is for the servants to come and go." She pointed to a much smaller gate about fifty feet from the larger one.

"But then we won't have horses," Tenya frowned.

"We can get some in the city," Momo shrugged, hoping her confidence would be enough to make it true. "It's more important that we get out of the castle before we're found."

"What if we-"

Once again Tenya was cut short by a loud noise, but this one came with a flash of light. Their eyes shot up as every guard rushed across the courtyard and the flash of purple light illuminated the new threat.

Momo's chest tightened and she gripped the sleeve of Tenya's shirt tightly, eyes widening on the magic knocking three guards to the ground and physically, slowly, crushing them in their armor.

It was the assassin, his mask back over the bottom of his face, hand outstretched with purple glyphs swirling around his arm. There was nothing in those violet eyes as he squeezed the very life from the men in front of him and other soldiers closed in on his position.

Tenya pulled her arm, getting her to her feet. "We need to go now!"

She wasn't paying attention to what Tenya was doing, but she was suddenly being pulled into a run behind him, the path between them and the gate suddenly cleared.

Just as they came up to the gate it's entire color changed and it contorted. Screams sounded behind them as more guards fell and Tenya spun back, sword in hand, jutting at the assassin now standing an arms reach away from them.

"Stay back!" Tenya demanded, pushing Momo behind him.

"Leaving so soon?" he said dryly, like it was supposed to be humorous, but not even he thought it was funny.

Tenya's sword lifted, a glyph appeared in front of the assassin before it could hit, catching it in a glistening shield. While he held it off, his other hand jutted out in another spell, but it hit Tenya in the chest without effect.

The assassin raised an eyebrow. "Enchantments?"

Before anyone could say anything else, the sword was shoved away and the assassin stepped back, his focus suddenly on something else entirely. His arm, lined in glyphs, jerked out into the air and caught something just as a before unseen knife clattered to the cobblestones. In a blink the illusion dissipated and the woman it had hidden appeared, throat in the assassin's hand.

Toru's feet hung off of the ground, kicking as she choked, nails clawing into his magically enhanced arm.

"That won't work on me twice," he squeezed his hand and she made a gargled noise

"No!" Momo screamed at him, finding tears had broken past her eyes.

Tenya kept her back, kept space between them even as he was moving to act, to help the Spymaster. But he was already too late.

A horrible cracking noise came as the purple glyphs glowed brighter and Toru's eyes bulged, blood dripping from her mouth as her body went limp. He dropped her and she crumpled into a pile onto the ground, still, unmoving.

Tenya's shout rattled louder than the still chiming bells as he swung his sword again. The assassin ducked it, panting, seeming winded, but not without a few more tricks and spells at his fingertips.

Momo didn't really see what happened, all she knew was that Tenya ended up on the ground by her feet, sword out of his hand, scrambling back to his feet with a fresh cut across his face.

The assassin was breathing heavy, his shaking arm outstretched to them.

"There's no need for that, Commander," the assassin said through gasps, "I'm not going to kill either of you."

Momo's tears stilled and Tenya's eyes widened.

"I've done what I came here to do," he sighed, "We don't need the princess dead."

Through their confusion, Tenya shook his head. "We? What do you mean?"

"It's not important," he shrugged, "I'm leaving. You can go if you want. I'd just recommend you don't try to stop me, I still have more than enough power to kill the princess even if you can manage to resist my magic."

Tenya stood protectively, shoulders squared tensely as he considered what the assassin was saying. Momo knew how loath he was to allow someone who had tried to kill her to leave unhindered, but they'd watched him kill the Spymaster effortlessly and Tenya's sword was no longer on his person to defend them with.

It may have been hard for Tenya to say, but it wasn't for Momo. She feared this man in particular more than any she'd met before. Her wounds burned her when she looked at him and she knew she didn't want to allow him anywhere near her again. And here he was, offering to walk away and not harm them.

"Just go," Momo shouted, grabbing Tenya's arm as he got to his feet, holding him back from getting in the assassin's way.

She pulled hard and, hesitantly, he stepped away, opening the path to the gate to him.

The assassin straightened and moved to the gate, still weary, but confident. The magic around it died and it unlatched, pushing out with a creak.

"Hitoshi!" Tenya snapped at the assassin, reminding Momo that he did in fact know him from the Tarlson Keep.

The assassin stalled, turning purple eyes back to him, unimpressed.

"This isn't over," Tenya bit harshly, "You'll pay for what you've done. Tarlson's justice is swift and brutal and by all the horrors of the ether you will feel it!"

Momo got instantly clammy. She wished for such justice to be done to this man, but her fear of him was strongest. Such a threat could have easily made him change his mind about letting them live and her fear spike that he'd said it.

She grit her teeth in concern, wondering why he couldn't have just thought to himself that he would hunt him down someday rather than declaring it. Why were men like this?

Luckily it didn't incur a return of violence in the assassin, Hitoshi. Instead he seemed vaguely amused like he had been in the throne room when he'd told the King that the attack was ordered by Tarlson.

"Enchantments won't stop a blade, Commander," Hitoshi tilted his head back at him, "Don't think I won't be prepared."

It was the last thing he said before he was gone, vanished into the darkness and chaos of the night and city streets.

Momo's entire body shook with panicked relief the moment he was out of sight, fingers digging hard into Tenya's arm and face falling in rapid breaths against the back of his shoulder.

"Your highness, are you okay?" He gasped at her reaction.

She nodded, taking a second longer to bury her face and calm herself. She didn't want to lift her eyes and see her surroundings without the adrenaline of fear. She didn't want to see the bodies and the blood. She didn't want to see Toru's lifeless face. The woman who had saved her life. She suddenly regretted how upset she'd been about the idea of her watching and following her. Now that she was dead, a new fear loomed over her that she'd never felt before. The fear that no one was watching over her. Spymaster or servant or guard or king or cousin, it didn't matter, someone was always looking after her her entire life. And maybe Tenya was still here, but this felt different, sharper than simply knowing her father and cousin were off somewhere else and that she was running away from their castle staff. Not even her parents' careful measures were left in place to protect her. Only herself and the person she'd chosen to do so. It put more pressure on her own judgment than she'd ever had before.

Once Tenya got her to come back to the present he pulled her back to the stables. Now that all of the guards were dead there was no one stopping them. It wouldn't be long before others came, but they had enough time to tack two horses and get the gate open.

With bitter tears in her eyes, Momo kicked her horse into a canter, following at Tenya's heels as they rode from the castle and into the steely night.

"So do you stay human or do you turn back into a dragon?"

Eijiro opened a hand to the very normal sized house, simpler than even Tsu's simple residence. The only walls were those keeping the mosquitos and nature out, the living space itself just an open, circular area with a couple chests, a large bed, and some storage for food. It was not a place people were really meant to live in, but rather stay temporarily in. Eijiro explained on their walk over that their Bog Mage friends had helped them build it when they first came here, since they had lived with them for over a year in their youth, training Ochako's magic and helping her understand and deal with the juvenile dragonling she'd brought along with her.

The pointed sweep of his hand and raised eyebrow gave Izuku his answer. The space was for human sized people, not dragon sized.

"If Red turned back into a dragon his head couldn't get through the door," Ochako laughed as she finished sealing up her pack for the next morning's journey.

"Is that...weird?"

Izuku shifted awkwardly in the middle of the room, not sure what to do with himself. Something in him jumped when Eijiro asked if he'd stay with them, some deep longing in his heart leaping to life. But now that he was here he felt strange and uncertain.

"Well obviously it's more comfortable to be myself when I'm sleeping, to be able to stretch my wings and all..."

Eijiro dug into one of the storage containers and pulled out an armful of food supplies that he brought over to Ochako. She met it with a disappointed glare and his mouth tightened in a stubborn show.

"Fine, you're carrying it," she conceded after a moment.

He grinned while she stuffed the extra food into the second bag.

"But I've been hiding among humans for most of my life and sleep leaves you vulnerable," Eijiro explained, "If I was a massive dragon just lying around in a field, you can bet I'd be dead or hunted by the morning. It kind of sticks out."

"But we're in Blackmoss," Izuku rubbed his arm, "No one wants to hurt you here."

"True, but when I first came here I was a lot smaller," Eijiro nodded, "And I could actually fit in here. By the time I was getting considerably bigger I learned how to shapeshift and by then I was pretty used to sleeping in here."

Eijiro dropped onto the messy bed, kicking his boots across the room.

"Unfortunately for me," Ochako sighed, "It's a lot warmer here than in Landsleave and being human doesn't temper your body heat that much."

Despite that Ochako climbed onto the bed and settled in next to him, leaving Izuku awkwardly standing across from them, unsure what to do, and reddening up to his ears. What was he even doing here?

"Everything okay, Izuku?" Eijiro asked, raising an eyebrow.

Were they expecting him to sleep in the bed with them? Izuku was rather stuck on what he felt about that. And it seemed to be what they were thinking, especially since there was nowhere else for him to sleep.

"Well," Izuku chewed his cheek, "How exactly is this going to work…?"

Eijiro pursed his lips in confusion, but Ochako sat up with grit teeth. "I told Red to tell you that you didn't have to if you didn't want to!"

"He did!" Izuku rushed to his defense, "Just...you want me to...sleep there?"

Ochako went a little red in the face and looked away.

"I'm sorry, apprentice, I guess I didn't think about it...I guess it's not really normal for regular people either, I shouldn't have assumed you'd be okay with it," she sputtered a little bashfully, "I'm just so used to having another person in bed with me I didn't consider it wasn't something you'd be comfortable with. I promise it's nothing weird! Seriously, this started with us as little kids and dragons just needing a lot of attention and I completely forgot that it's not appropriate to other people!"

"Whoa, it's okay!" Izuku waved his arms to calm her embarrassment, rushing over to the side of the bed, "I'm just… It's different, but I…"

Silence hung while Izuku battered it all around in his head and finally kicked off his shoes, surprising them by dropping on the open part of the bed beside them with Eijiro propped on his elbows in the middle. Izuku's face was still flushed, but he was smiling through it.

"You're sure you're okay with this, apprentice?" Ochako, pulled in her lips, "It won't be a bother to get you from Tsu's tomorrow morning."

Izuku folded his hands on his chest and turned a smile to the ceiling, a warmth passing over him to feel the proximity of other people, even without touching them. It felt incredibly filling and no matter how weird this was or embarrassed he felt, he couldn't have pried himself from that spot by force.

"I'm fine," he said genuinely.

The other two dropped back down, each of them on their backs, eyes up to the ceiling, light smiles on their faces while the candlelight flicked shapes onto the wood above.

They laid in comfortable silence, Izuku soaking up the nearness of the others contentedly, feeling so strangely at peace and terrified at once. The only reason he had ever known for people to share a bed was to have sex and he'd seen many of his fellow young mages engage in that sort of activity through their youth. To Izuku, to ever allow intimacy with another person to reach that point would have been devastating. Some mages were fine with the inevitable separation that would come after getting that close to someone, but Izuku could barely handle being pushed out of a hug. He both guarded and perpetually hurt his heart by keeping people away from that level of intimacy, which meant he had never shared a bed with another person. Never felt whatever this warm, contented comfort was. He never wanted to leave it.

"Do you think your mom will have baked something when we get back?" Eijiro's question was a whisper.

"If she hasn't torn the house down from worry," Ochako sighed, "I wouldn't count on it, Red."

"You sent her a message, though," Eijiro argued, "She knows we didn't die."

"Yeah, but moms just worry. Besides she doesn't know when we're coming home. She won't be expecting us. Do you really think she's going to bake enough to feed your appetite if she doesn't think you're coming home?"

Izuku's head turned to look at the two whispering about family and home. Growing up in a Magesterium meant it was not a conversation he was familiar with hearing. He liked it.

"Your family is okay with you having a dragon living with you?" Izuku asked, curious about the strange nature of an ordinary family.

"Not at first," Ochako explained, "But they were already harboring a Renegade Mage and, for safety purposes, a dragon comes in handy. Plus my mom thinks he's adorable and he helps my dad with the work so they couldn't bring themselves to turn him away."

"They sound like nice people," Izuku slipped an arm behind his head, looking back to the shadow show on the ceiling.

"They probably won't be to you, though," Ochako frowned, "The last they saw of you, you were trying to take away their only child. I think it's best if you don't meet them."

Izuku nodded with a frown. "You're probably right. Still, it's nice that they like having you around, Eijiro."

He nodded in reply and then rolled on his side to face Izuku.

"Do you miss not having a mom?"

The question felt a little out of the blue and Izuku was sure this was something he'd already answered before.

"I mean...no," Izuku pursed his lips, "Like I said before, I don't miss someone I never really knew, but I miss other people."

"Who?" Ochako sat up to see over Eijiro.

A fond smile pulled Izuku's lips. "Myra, Jano...Inko."

"Who are they?" Eijiro got big curious eyes.

"Myra and Jano were my Magesterium family before we were old enough to start training," Izuku smiled, "We grew up together and Inko took care of us. We were her favorites. One of the other caretakers said it was because she had a special love for green eyed children. She raised us from infants until we were about eight years old. She helped take care of all the children, but we really were her favorites. We loved her. When we got a little older and decided that the three of us would be a family, we asked if we could use her name, that way, even when we were separated we'd always be connected and always stay close to Inko."

"She sounded like a nice mother," Eijiro hummed softly.

"She wasn't our mother-" Izuku shook his head.

"She raised you, didn't she?" Ochako interrupted, "You took her name. You still love her. She didn't birth you, but she's your mother."

Izuku felt something knot up in his throat. His eyes shot down and a tight expression overcame his face. He'd truly never thought about it like that. Never attributed the word "mother" to Inko. But what Ochako said made an incredible amount of sense and his heart could hardly take it.

He'd lived his life with a certainty and acceptance that he never had a mother and never would. And yet what Ochako just said had changed everything.

Eijiro shot up onto his elbow again, eyes wide. "Izuku, what's wrong?"

Izuku blinked and realized there were tears in his eyes. He rubbed his eyes and choked on a laugh, shaking his head.

"Nothing!" he said, blinking through the blur, "Nothing is wrong… I just never considered that. I thought I'd never known a mother's love, but… Damn, how could I be so stupid? Of course that's what that was! I just never had the right context for it… Thank you."

Eijiro's smile was beaming and Ochako's was soft. Her hands were folded on her chest, moved by the revelation she'd given Izuku. Eijiro was moved in a different way and grabbed Izuku, yanking him into a vicious hug that practically knocked the wind out of the mage. The dragon boy didn't understand his own strength.

"I'm so happy for you, Izuku," he bellowed, "I'm so happy you have a mom!"

Izuku was just frozen in his crushing hold, eyes wide and looking to Ochako like he had no idea what to do. The girl was beaming, though and gently grabbed his hand, squeezing lightly.

Izuku's entire inside melted. He slacked, one arm lifting to hug back and tightening his hand on Ochako's, becoming a puddle to this sudden physical affection he hadn't expected.

It was the best and worst thing in the world. It felt like years worth of denied fulfillment being poured into him by these two. And his heart was squeezing and gripping and attaching. This was bad...really bad. But he couldn't tear himself away, couldn't make himself acknowledge the reality that this thing he was feeling was so temporary.

He resolved to simply soak up every ounce of the physical touch and affection while he still could and hoped beyond hope it could satisfy him through his return to the stiff, cold shouldered life of the Center Magesterium.

After the hug ended, Izuku felt more comfortable staying close to them and settled in to chat the night away with friendly conversation. The candle going out didn't stop them. They talked about magic, dragons, and family. About Ochako's parents, how they had tried for years to have a child to no avail and couldn't bear to part with Ochako when they finally had her, resolving to live dangerous lives to keep her from the Magesterium. Izuku talked about Myra and Jano. Ochako explained about healing spells and Izuku detailed shielding spells. Eijiro kept bringing the topic back to baked goods and when they could get him off of it he tried to explain what it was like to be a dragon, the differences felt in each form, the frustration of limited communication in his natural form.

They didn't notice at what point they finally fell asleep, but the morning came cracking through the more spaced wood pieces like a cracked whip to his closed lids, striking his eyes with the harsh burn of reality. Izuku moved aside the weight of Eijiro's arm from his chest to not only breathe, but to rise. The dragon boy had ended up on his stomach at some point and Ochako looked about to fall off the other side of the bed.

He took it in. Took in the calm simplicity of that peaceful sight. The wounds from the Tempest Demon hadn't hurt this much.

"Eijiro, Ochako, it's time to go," he said in a groggy voice, sliding out of the bed and grabbing his boots.

They slowly came to and stretched, crawling out of bed with lidded eyes.

Ochako gathered everything up and Eijiro opened out his arms on his way to the door, saying he needed to stretch his wings before they left. He left everything except the simple shirt and breeches he was wearing, but Izuku expected those would be gone in a moment too.

Ochako gave Izuku a portion of bread for his breakfast and took up the two packs as Izuku slung his own across his back and grabbed his staff.

Wordlessly they went to the door, but before they could leave, Izuku put his hand on Ochako's shoulder, stopping her. She turned sleepy eyes to him.

"Ochako…" his heart was in his feet, "I'm still sorry that all of this happened."

With a few blinks Ochako was awake. "I'm not."

Izuku frowned. "But we attacked you. And me and Eijiro got seriously injured and I took you away from your family and-"

"Izuku," she pulled the hand from her shoulder and held onto it, "I don't regret this. The only thing I'm regretting is you going back to the Synod. I'm really happy we met even if it happened in a terrible way. You've given me hope that not all Synod Mages are evil and…"

Her expression tightened with her grip on Izuku's hand.

"I don't want you to go back to them," she said firmly, meeting his green eyes stubbornly.

Izuku startled. "I have to-"

"Why?" Ochako snapped, "You're better than the Synod! You could stay with me and Red and you could be happy instead of oppressed! Tsu could teach you shapeshifting and you could learn any magic you want to!"

There was a wad in Izuku's throat, his hand slipping out of hers. Something stubborn lodged in his chest.

"I'm not oppressed," Izuku said in a level, serious tone, "I'm living how I believe. I have aspirations, Ochako… I have convictions. I… I wish you would change your mind and come back to the Magesterium with me. I care about both of you...a lot. Your magic could thrive there and you could be so much more."

Her severity turned to a sharp glare. "Apprentice-"

"But I'm not going to make you," Izuku cut back in before she could start an argument, "We live opposite lives. It means everything to me that you want me to stay, that you don't want to lose me, but there's no way around that. And I don't want to see you hurt or forced to do something you don't want to. I'll protect you from the Synod...I'll tell them you resisted too harshly and we had to kill you so they won't send anyone else. But I can't change my path. This is the only exception I can make."

Ochako's arms crossed, her frustrated pout turned away from him.

He lifted a hand to her, but dropped it. "I'll never stop caring about you. I'll never be able to forget how welcoming you and Eijiro have been. I've never experienced friendship like you both give and it's killing me to leave it behind, but there's no way around it. This isn't my life and it never can be. Please...don't make this harder than it already is for me…"

It was quiet for too long, but then Ochako opened the door and let the morning light stream in, wordlessly taking Izuku's hand again, not looking at him. With a tug he followed, leaving it like that. Leaving everything here, in Blackmoss, in this little house, in this world outside of Gaetha.

Luckily the wind and flap of wings were too loud for them to have heard each other anyway so there was no pressure to talk on the flight back to Landsleave.

The sweeping beauty of the ever shifting land was distracting enough on its own and Izuku marveled at all the sights he had missed on the way to Blackmoss. The swamplands shifted to a lengthy plain, which gradually rolled into the hills that were the very landmarks of Gaetha's borderlands, the outskirts of Tarlson. The world was different from a dragon's back. They were so high that buildings looked like toys and, hopefully, to where they could not be differentiated from a bird in the sky to the miniscule people below.

Finally after a few hours getting sore on Eijiro's back and getting comfortable enough with his balance so as not to hold onto Ochako so tightly anymore, the forest at Landsleave's outskirt appeared and Eijiro dove from the low hanging clouds.

When the village came into their line of sight, Izuku's heart plummeted in his chest. Not for any reason he expected. He expected to feel upset at seeing the definitive conclusion to his time with them, but he hadn't expected this.

Dark smoke, flickering flames, and an unearthly, unholy shriek.


	12. The Battle for Landsleave

Their week long journey was on its last leg, Tarlson lay merely hours ahead of them and the Summoner felt close enough to touch.

Every step of the way had come with some irritation or another and all of them seemed to center around the Captain. Whether that was fighting with Kyoka or fighting with Denki or trying to scare Mina into actually fearing him again or making snippy comments to Shoto to get a rise out of him. He didn't fight with Nana, though. If anything, she was the only person he would seem to listen to. She had unknowingly become the mediatrix of their group, impartially settling every argument whether Katsuki was involved or not. And without realizing it they had all come to accept her as the final word in every conflict.

At the same time they had all eased into each other's presence on the arduous road, in the struggles of weariness, of finding shelter at night, of obtaining horses, and keeping themselves unnoticed and out of trouble. Everyone had to do their part in it and, though Katsuki would have hated to admit it, the elves were the most useful addition in keeping safe and alive on the road. Their knowledge and connections were invaluable at every turn, gaining more practical experience over their sixty some-odd years on earth than their young faces and youthful attitudes would indicate. But they still found ways to make Shoto uncomfortable daily in their obliviousness. They were very forward people and the young mage was used to restraint of which none of his companions were near his level. It was something he was having to get used to.

The hardest part of the journey, though, had not been the fighting or the practical struggles, but the nightly training. Exhausted as they already were, each night Shoto left with Nana out of the sight of the others and practiced.

To even say that he would agree to learn Blood Magic was enough to turn his stomach, but the active action of it sent him mentally reeling every night. Of course it hurt to cut his own skin, to bleed and even worse to think that the magic he was engaging in was the magic of the Fallen. But the surge of power that came with activating the magic, especially with the emboldened strength of mage blood, was nearly euphoric. He felt so in control and with it came precise clarity that washed away distraction.

Nana didn't make many comments, but he felt the tentativeness of how she watched the magic ignite in his hands. She held no hesitation in teaching him any and all spells she knew in regards to the magic type; Blood Magic could enhance most normal spells, but there were specific spells that were unique to its power, like the tendrils Nana had created that had obliterated the Shrike at the fronts. But the barrier spell she had used was an advanced version of a simple shielding spell, which rarely took much magic to hold, but an incredible focus to maintain. The addition of Blood Magic morphing and adapting the spell had allowed her to form a line that could not be crossed and that would feed on the blood magic she'd given it for a long time to come; to her best guess, one month, because of how little active magic the regular spell required.

He learned these and many things like it and each spell came more easily than the last, frighteningly easily. Blood Magic was truly formidable, practically bypassing the limitations of normal magic, and he had only created very small versions of the things that Nana taught him. This might have been the first time he actually engaged in the practices of restraint his teachers had tried to instill in him for so many years, his fear of what out of control Blood Magic could cause grounding him like little else had.

On the sixth night Shoto's confidence wavered. He had engaged the same sort of magic he had used when he had meant to fight Katsuki and he crushed the two nearest trees in the burst he created, but immediately after he felt pain shoot in pulses through his fingers, biting the very tendons.

With a cry he hit his knees and held his hands in front of his face. He gagged, throwing wide, stricken eyes up to Nana who stood calmly above him.

Blackness darkened the tips of his fingers and crept steadily along them to leak into his hands, like a living stain. The digits curled in a deep pain and the scents and sounds of the ether broke against his senses like they were all around him. It was like he had dipped his hands into the most venomous part of the ether itself.

"What-?" Shoto choked, unable to finish his question as the pain continued to overtake him.

"Give it a moment, it'll dull," Nana's voice was soft, but serious. It lacked the cheerful tone she most often presented and held that depth that came when she spoke of drastic things. "This is the long term effects of Blood Magic and the magic of the Fallen. Nature can only be distorted for so long before it bites back, before it breaks your personal barrier to the ether."

Shoto groaned, confused as he focused on breathing through the sharp, stabbing feeling almost touching his arms. It took another good, agonizing minute, but finally it dulled like Nana said it would.

The black started to recede, drawing out of his skin like ink, washing away until not a sign remained.

"What… What do you mean… What was that? Does that happen every time you use Blood Magic?"

"Not every time," Nana shook her head, "But prolonged use can invite physical corruptions as well as mental corruptions. You've been actively using blood magic every night for nearly a week, something was bound to reach back sooner than later."

"Why didn't you warn me of this?" Shoto snapped. It seemed a rather important thing to have just glossed over or forgotten.

"Honestly, I believed they taught you more of the consequences to Blood Magic in the Magesteriums," Nana crouched in front of him, "But more than that, I feared you'd be too scared to continue training if you had any idea of how painful it is for the ether to reach back. The first time is always the worst."

"What sort of corruption is this? And why does it just go away...I don't understand any of this."

Shoto's mind was back to reeling, which was frustrating since he'd finally grown accustomed to dragging a knife through his skin and was beginning to stop berating himself every time he used the tantalizing power. And now this created a thousand new questions and apprehensions. What was this going to do to him physically? What were the long term effects? Was there even a sliver left of him even now that would be salvageable by the Synod when this was through?

"The more power drawn from blood and the more time engaging in it, the harsher the corruption," Nana tried to explain, "You can usually spot a true Blood Mage by the black markings across his skin. The stain of the ether's poison, of corruption. Years of use can even begin to break down the body. The pain is usually temporary and if given time without the use of Blood Magic the blackness goes away. But most can't give it up for that long. You will rarely see an old Blood Mage."

"Then...it really is an evil horrible magic."

"Very few forms of magic are, it's the use that makes it evil or good," Nana took his arm and pulled him to his feet. "Blood Magic is more dangerous, but if used correctly it doesn't bear inherent evil. Consequences yes, evil no. You see no blackness on me, because I use Blood Magic only when I have had to. It's not a magic to make everyday life easier or make any random spell more powerful, it's to be used with care. I didn't want to just tell you that, I wanted you to experience it."

"Why?" Shoto pulled away from her, not exactly mistrusting, but more perturbed, annoyed that she had chosen to be cryptic.

"For the same reason you are using the Stone and not me," Nana pulled a tight smile, "Because you are unreasonably powerful with the right magic type and if you don't have the right temperance with this magic I fear for the world itself to face you. And I've never known a lesson to stick like one that comes with the sting of pain."

Shoto grabbed his staff off of the ground and dug his heels in. "I'm not, though. My masters complained that I didn't have the proper control, but they never said anything about my magic being stronger."

"I've thought about that and the things you've told me," Nana tapped her lip, looking him up and down closely. Something made him feel exposed under her perceptive blue eyes, "It could be a couple things. It could be that the masters feared your power and kept your focus on temperance and control to dissuade you from developing the core power behind your spells. In that case you've simply held back from getting in touch with your true level of power and so it seemed that you weren't any more powerful than the other students. Or…"

Nana drew her gaze to the bright glow of the moon, letting her hand dance over the ground, tiny green glyphs on her fingertips. On the ground around her feet, stems extended up towards her and purple blossoms formed at their ends. Just to watch the almost mindless, beautiful magic from her instantly eased a part of Shoto's heart. The part of him that held fears and apprehensions towards her. It all dissipated so quickly when he was reminded of her roots, of her first magic, the cultivation of nature to its purest form. It reminded him that she was not actually a Blood Mage, but a Nature Mage who was willing to touch damnable magic for the sake of the world she loved and the loved ones she had lost.

He waited on the continuation of her thought with deep anticipation, wondering truly why she thought him so powerful and so different than others.

"Perhaps you have a more natural affinity to a certain type of magic," Nana said, "I've seen it before for elemental magics, but never for something like this. I think you have a stronger sense of the ether than a normal mage. I've never heard of someone reacting to a Honing Stone like you did. It would explain why Blood Magic comes so easily to you too. Again, I've never seen someone use Blood Magic by accident. You used it in reaction, like an experienced Blood Mage, like someone who was familiar with it."

He wanted to argue that none of it could be true, but when it came to Blood Magic he truly had no choice but to defer to her judgment. The Magesteriums had taught so little after all. They simply spoke of the dangers of encountering a Blood Mage and warned of the damnation that came from its use, perhaps in fear that even the slightest knowledge of its use might tempt a young mage to try it. Nana knew more than he did on this matter and he had to trust her knowledge.

"What does a stronger connection the ether have to do with Blood Magic coming more easily if it doesn't make other magic come as easily," Shoto asked, watching daffodils sprout slowly around his own feet.

"Everything, actually. Were you ever told about how a Summoner becomes such a thing?"

Shoto's head tilted and mouth pursed, but he said nothing, which was answer enough for Nana.

"Didn't think so; damn Synod. Blood Magic is thought to open the gate to that magic, because it allows the ether's corruption in. In the case of this Summoning I believe we're dealing with a Necromancer rather than a Blood Mage, but it does the same thing at an even faster rate."

"Because of the armies of dead?" Shoto hummed to himself.

"Precisely, but the fact remains either way that the magics of The Fallen, when untempered, can lead to the corruption that creates Summonings," Nana nodded, "Fallen Mages have been known to speak of hearing the ether, of feeling it on their skin while they walk our mortal world and feeling the closer pull of it the more Fallen magic they use."

"You have yet to make Blood Magic seem like a good idea, Nana," Shoto flexed his hands in front of his face.

"These are the extreme cases," Nana finally took her gaze back from the moon, "The people that welcome the corruption, that keep going when nature has given them every sign that they should turn back. We are not like that and any good intentioned mage wouldn't be. You remember that Mina mentioned that her people perform Blood Magic? Moondancers are a rather uncivilized species of elf in a lot of senses, but they are very liberated in their use of magic. There has never been a Summoning begun by a Moondance elf and yet they outlaw no form of magic. But what they do is respect it. Because when nature bit back they took it as a sane person should and stepped back. The only reason I didn't fear telling Denki that I was planning to use Blood Magic was because I saw Mina with him, he would have had to open his mind to many things if he was agreeing to be accompanied by her."

"So you're saying that we need to take example from the barbaric elves and play with any magic we please, and just hold off a couple days when nature punishes us for it?"

"Don't twist my words," Nana huffed amusement, "You're smart, don't act petty. Look, it doesn't really matter what you actually want to believe about the laws around magic. We've agreed on this and it's really the only important fact left. That we need Blood Magic to end this. The Demons won't be defeated otherwise. You've agreed to use your incredible affinity for it to stop this Summoning. All I am doing is warning of what could become of you if you don't treat the dangers it brings with respect and caution."

Shoto's head dropped a tiny bit, knowing that she'd been correct in saying that his words were purposefully made to make her statements sound worse than they were meant to be. He was a bit sheepish to be called out on it, but only let it show a moment.

He was still greatly unsettled by all this new knowledge and it definitely gave him a tense fear of ever engaging this dark magic again. That seemed to be what Nana wanted, though. To give him a practical fear. Perhaps she could see how alluring it was becoming, how alighted his attitude became when his eyes filled with the red of Blood Magic, how it left him shaking from the high of it afterwards.

Eventually Shoto agreed that they would continue their training, but only after some time to let his body and his magic realign with nature and draw back from the touch of the ether for a time. He was certainly conflicted, but she was right that this was simply something that had to be done. And no matter how many times she surprised him with something new she'd failed to mention before, his trust of her remained.

That in and of itself was such an anomaly. He'd never grown to trust someone so fast since he was a child and to see how that had become the case for every one of his companions, from the perpetually unhappy Captain to the self serving Bard was deeply significant. It made sense that the elf, that they had later discovered to be her nephew by marriage, would have that faith in her, but she had obtained the trust of the Moondance elf quickly too, despite her initial backhandedness in scolding Denki for even associating with her.

No matter how they looked at it, Nana was unique to them all and no matter how many times he got angry at her, his trust would take a bull oxe to move.

Their companions were peacefully asleep at their return. All except the Captain, who was onto his first fitful night in days. Shoto knew this because he was awake through most nights and heard the restlessness around him that the Captain caused and the stillness that had been so rare the last few evenings. They usually got stuck together if they had a room anywhere, so whether it was camp or inn, he couldn't escape the night terrors. The same went for Katsuki, though. When Shoto jolted awake at the iron cold of the Archdemon touching his subconscious, Katsuki was right there glaring at him as if he hadn't also been up with the haunting terror of what they had seen and the regret of what they had left behind. Neither said anything about it, just went back to bed and glared when the other woke him again.

This time though, someone else was awake to see it with him and Nana approached the Captain calmly. He was on his stomach, one arm under the bedroll that he'd placed his head on and the other over the back of his head. Katsuki was cold sweating and breathing fast.

Instead of just leaving him to work out his mental torments on his own, though, Nana dropped beside him on her knees as if this was as normal to her as it had become to Shoto. But then her hand glowed with silver light as her hand lowered ever so slowly to the back of his head. He didn't flinch or seem to notice when it contacted and after a solid moment his shaking stopped and he took a very long, very deep breath.

When asked what she'd done, she just said that she used a sleep spell that wouldn't allow dreams.

They didn't talk about it any further, but Shoto badly wanted to ask her to do that for himself as well, to let him sleep without dreams or restless thoughts, but Katsuki wouldn't have asked for it were he aware and Shoto was coming to understand that they had a similar level of pride and stubbornness. Neither liked to admit if there was a problem.

He could deal with this on his own like he had been doing. It was only a shame that he couldn't cast spells like that on himself.

The next morning saw excitement in the small camp. Shoto used the Stone again to ensure that they were still going to the correct place and he was given another series of distorted visions that were somehow both vague and clear to him at once. He felt the Stone's draw to the Summoner, to the breach, to its home. His magic marked the map with the directions his mind saw and it still told them Tarlson, deep inside, drawing to its center. The Summoner had not left in the week they had been journeying and it seemed their good luck was continuing.

With the Stone back in Nana's hands and away from where it could sicken Shoto's senses with how loud it was in every way, they packed up and mounted to finish the last leg of their journey. Katsuki seemed more rested than usual that morning and his bad attitude was less of an anger issue and more of an exuberance to find the Summoner and finish this mission. He was loud and brash and arrogant and it was oddly the most pleasant he'd been since Shoto had known him.

He didn't even bite off Kyoka's head for strumming on her lute, with both good and bad notes as she formulated a new melody while they rode. Eventually Denki and Mina convinced her to play a song that they all three knew and a strange elf lullaby accompanied them for longer than any song should have lasted.

It ended up being Nana begging them to stop, but it didn't seem to be from irritation. There was a distance in her eyes and she was subconsciously humming it not two minutes later. Shoto thought about what she'd told him of her life and he couldn't help wondering if it had perhaps been a song she had sung to her son as a baby, that maybe the song was simply painful to her and not just frustratingly long.

The hills and distant mountains told them that they had entered Tarlson's lands; as did the borderguard. Tarlson was a strong kingdom and its military was only outmatched by Dawnfell's and perhaps the King's personal guard. But the business of the Synod was considered holy work and when Shoto presented the falsified orders that they had created to the guards and his ring of proof they allowed his party to pass through unhindered.

It was still surprising and nerve wracking to have to stand as a Synod Master, as an authority. Especially while Nana, a truly experienced mage who physically looked the part much better than he did, was among them.

Tarlson was a prosperous land, the grass was green and the air fresh and each village they passed teamed with life. Farmlands abounded and all seemed well and untouched by the horrors of the Summoning. It was as though thousands of men weren't dead at the barrier between the kingdom and the malice of the Archdemon.

It was a strange relief, a pleasant respite that didn't feel quite real. But there were smiles around him and Kyoka's fingers strummed a happy tune as the road came by a village called Tipans. It seemed the same as any other until they got close enough to feel and hear the chaos. Animals breighed and people were shouting and scrambling. There didn't look to be anything causing it, no attacks or fighting, but the party directed themselves towards the chaos nonetheless.

"What's going on?" Katsuki demanded of the first villager to run by them, grabbed him by the shirt as he tried to get past the Captain's horse.

Terrified eyes looked them over and his gaze went to Shoto instead of the Captain.

"You're a Synod Master?" his voice sounded hopeful.

Shoto hesitated because that was not a normal question for him to answer yet. He nodded.

"Please you have to help us!" the man shouted to Shoto, "There are Demons in Landsleave! We have to evacuate our village before they reach us!"

"Demons?" Katuski hissed as every face filled with shock and fear, "But the barrier…"

"Doesn't matter if the Summoner is on this side of it," Nana shook her head like she was kicking herself for not considering it before, "Which way is Landsleave?"

The man jutted out a finger in the direction of the path they had already been towards the center of Tarlson. On the horizon a little plume of smoke rose and his heart dropped.

Shoto could instantly feel that tainting presence of the ether.

Katsuki released the man and kicked his horse to action, the Dawnfelden Captain leaping to his ingrained duty without a thought. Nana took enough time to tell the man to continue evacuating and to tell the same to warn any other village in their path, not stopping until they reached the border or a military camp. With those words shouted over the screaming, she spurred forward, following the Captain at a gallop. Shoto and the others fell in behind them, not one of their party questioning that they were riding to a new hellscape of Demon infestation, simply leaping to action.

The closer they got the more the ether pulsed in the air. It was nothing like what he'd felt from the Archdemon, nothing in life would ever compare to that, but it was strong nonetheless. He smelled ash and storms and the clap of thunder came with a roar as what had once been the village of Landsleave appeared before them.

Scorched earth. Burnt homes. Shrieks of fear and the stench of death.

Above the homes rose an Inferno Demon and a Tempest Demon, the beasts that had caused the devastation that festered around them. Lesser Demons walked the streets and terrorized whatever the Major Demons weren't obliterating.

Shoto's chest panged with adrenaline filled panic. The familiarity it held, the sickness that came with the smells of death and ether magic.

Sword in hand, Katsuki hit the ground first and his horse went running away with frantic kicks. Their own horses were starting to panic as well. These were not warhorses and they were not trained to stay calm in this sort of chaos. They all dismounted quickly before they could be bucked off.

The enchanted shield whipped around into Katsuki's hand and multiple Demons turned their attention to him, leaving the crying villagers to go after the real threat that had dropped in front of them.

Shoto moved to take a defensive stance beside him, but the Captain elbowed him away.

"I can handle a few minor Demons! Get your ass to the big ones!"

Nana seemed to agree. With a wordless tug on his sleeve she prompted him to follow and they left the non magically equipped to fight at ground level. The two elves were getting the villagers on their feet to run as Katsuki let out the laugh of a crazed man and dove into battle with multiple Demons at once. Kyoka's lute was in hand and they barely heard her voice touch the air before the chaos of screams, roaring fires, and Demon rambling drowned it from their ears.

"Go to the Inferno, I'll take the Tempest," Nana yelled over the screams and the sounds of Demonic glee, "Try not to use Blood Magic unless you have to!"

Shoto almost cursed all of the practice they had done the past week that had made the use of Blood Magic in a situation that they likely needed it, to be ill advised. If it was life and death, though, he'd take the pain and horror of the blackness again.

Perhaps it was because of his two most used magic types that Nana had sent him after the Inferno; fire and ice. But even still he wasn't sure how he was actually supposed to do real harm to it. He'd fought with that Shrike at the fronts and barely scathed by in survival with multiple mages backing him up. Fire won't affect an Inferno and Shoto questioned how much the opposite element would actually do to it.

But he had little other choice and he attacked with gusto and flurry.

The surviving villagers were no longer in this part of the village. All those that hadn't gotten away in time were now just mangled pieces of charred cinders. He wouldn't need to be careful of damage he'd do to the area of effect.

A massive frost spell burst over the Inferno. It's fire and lava body freezing from its amorphous bottom to its black eyed top. It lasted less than two seconds.

The ice that had encased it burst into hail and Shoto ducked; the Inferno's black eyes were on him now.

Thunder clapped nearby as storm clouds swirled. But all he saw was a hand of harsh orange flame coming down over him and the bone shaking roar of a thousand stoked fires ripping from its mouth.

Shoto's shield went up a moment before impact and the force of it's hit knocked him to his knees. It was everything he could do just to control his panic, the fear that he may have survived so much and come so far just to be bested by yet another Demon.

But Nana was right about one thing at least, he was a strong mage and if he was going to be ended by a Major Demon, the beast was going to be walking away more hurt than victorious before he was through.

Below the line of the shield, where heat poured over him, he burst a sharp edged spire of ice. It hit the Demon's center, the impact continuing to push even after it hit to lightly pierce and throw the Demon from where it stood.

So taken by surprise, the Inferno, three times the size of any home in this village, fell back and crushed an entire field of ripened crops, casting flames to light the entire field ablaze, now matching it to so much of the town.

While the Inferno caught its world aflame, across from them, half a mile away, so close yet so far, storm clouds swirled rain and thunder and hail to douse their world, even as the Inferno tried to burn it down.

Shoto had to act quickly while it was still disoriented and hurt.

He ran at it, staff raised, a blizzard forming above him with more sharpened, knifelike ice, aiming to impale and beat down the unprepared Demon with all Shoto had in him.

It came over the Inferno in a rain and the thousands of shards hit it's body with a ripping force. Its roar rose louder than before, but it was only hindered for a moment.

Shoto stumbled when a thrusting wind gusted across them, unbalancing the mage, but also stopping the Inferno from getting back to its feet at once.

One look up showed the Tempest Demon wafting towards them, on the heels of the older mage.

Thunder hit their ears. Shoto was being yanked straight up, Nana pulling him to the relative, momentary safety of the backside of a half shattered barn.

From just around its corner they could see the rain filled gusts of the Tempest's magic, crashing across the Inferno's flames unwittingly, dowsing and lessening the Inferno in its form with the counteraction of his powers.

Shoto gasped and yelled over the whipping winds. "That was smart."

"Just desperate," Nana shook her head, "It's wind speed is ridiculous, I haven't been able to get a single spell off that hasn't been a shield. The dead here are burned to cinders and their blood's not usable. I'll need to use my own, but I may only be able to stop one of them with what I have."

Shoto grit his teeth at the two Demons, rising, thinking that this may be their only opportunity to do any damage. "In that case I'll have to-"

His plan was cut off by the sudden stop of rain and the reorientation of the Inferno beside the Tempest. It's flames kicked high to life and the winds swirled, pulling them in to create a new, more deadly life.

"Shit, Nana!"

A fire whirl took to life, more broad and raging than anything nature could dare to conjure. The older mage acted quickly, pushing Shoto down behind the shelter and leaping out of it. The fire slowed the tornado enough that Nana was able to stand and pull her spell to life in time. Her arms opened and white glyphs formed large in front of her hands.

The fire whirl hit her shield and flames burst across it in a heat that could scorch the earth to a blazing death. Everything behind the shield incinerated almost instantly. If any person had been alive there before, they were lost now.

"Shoto, now's your chance!" Nana commanded, holding the shield in place with all her strength, her brow marked with sweat and his arms straining outward.

Without thinking and without a truly formed plan Shoto reacted and ran around the shelter and the formation of the shield holding back the hellfire from the still living behind them. His small dagger whipped from his belt into his hand, his mind not even comprehending that he was about to do this again so soon. Not allowing himself to consider the pain he'd experienced before or the stain that might remain on his skin for what he was about to do.

He had just stood to face the two Demons, now teaming their powers together against the mages. He had just put the blade to his hand, just pressed the tip to make the cut, take that surge of power.

Green cut the sky with a roar unlike any the Inferno had made. The blast of green magic collided into the Tempest, sending it back as something red and large hit the Inferno.

Shoto was stunned, knife going still against his skin, unsure that what he was seeing was real.

Magic was bursting around the Demons at rapid speed and the Inferno Demon was grappling physically with a...dragon?

"_Is that mage really going to just stand there? Shouldn't he be doing something?"_

Shoto almost dropped the knife from his hand, startled and panicked at the sound of a voice coming from inside of his head. His head whipped around, still unsure of what was happening, who was speaking or if he should still try to use Blood Magic now.

The fire whirl died entirely with both of its sources now distracted and Nana's shield fell. The fires still burned hot before her and Shoto was clear headed enough at least to ice the ground in front of her and stop the spread of the fire into the village.

She also looked out at the scene with shock and confusion. She looked to Shoto for explanation, but he could only shrug. All he knew was that there were other mages here, though he couldn't see them in the smoke and chaos and that an entire dragon had appeared to physically battle the Inferno.

Nana luckily recovered from the shock faster than him, shaking from her stupor with resolve

"Keep at the Inferno!" She pointed at the beast, ripping her own knife from her belt, legs a bit wobbly from the effort of the shield and the impact of fire. "Don't use it if you don't have to!"

She was talking about the Blood Magic and he was genuinely relieved. She disappeared into the dark gray smoke as a glow of red formed around her as she at the Tempest Demon already heavily engaged by the other magic.

Shoto turned his attention back to the Inferno and pulled a glyph in front of his hands. More ice attacks rose to life and crashed into the Inferno, only barely missing the dragon who was slashing claws at its face with little fear of the extreme heat of its physical mass.

"_Watch it!"_

Shoto stumbled at the voice.

"_What the hell is going on?"_ he unknowingly mentally screamed back at it.

A flame filled hand the size of a horse swiped just over Shoto's head and he ducked away just before it could crush him.

From the place he collapsed he felt the voice come back in equal shock.

"_Wait….you hear me?"_

"Yes, who are you? Why are you doing this right now?" He yelled as he thought it, the sense of the voice in his head seeming to connect his mental words along some before unknown path.

With a swoop across the air the dragon hit the Inferno with a force that sent it reeling backwards before it looped back around and came at Shoto. As if fighting Major Demons hadn't been bad enough now there was a dragon coming at him.

Shoto scrambled to his feet and almost took into a run, but the dragon simply landed in front of him, spinning back towards the Inferno just before a plume of flame could impact Shoto and fry him to a crisp. It hit the dragon without effect and burst around either side of its red scaled body. It gave Shoto the time to raise a shield around himself and hold off the flames from killing him with their vicious heat.

"_Do you have a plan?"_

The question came as the fire died and the dragon turned an eye back to him.

Shoto blinked in shock. "_You're the dragon?"_

"_Obviously, what's the plan, mage?"_

"_Wait, how are you-?"_

"_Ask me after the entire village isn't about to burn down, okay! Believe me, I have questions too."_

The dragon made a fair point. Which was not a thought he expected to have today or any other day of his life.

Red light took root nearby and the rumbling thunder became a harsher sound, turning to something that felt like a scream. Two bodies emerged in a frantic dash from the dense smoke, getting as far away from the terror Nana was creating with her Blood Magic as fast as possible and running straight towards the mage and the dragon. It was a good sign. A sign that Nana had the Demon handled, but he was also well aware that she may not be of much use when she was finished, which still left the Inferno up to Shoto to defeat.

He bit his cheek, preparing to voice to the dragon to get to safety so that he could do the same horrible thing Nana was doing to this Demon, but every notion of plan vanished from his mind when Izuku of all people stepped clear of the smoke side by side with a brown haired girl in villager attire.

Izuku stumbled to a halt when he met Shoto's eyes, each look each other over like they'd seen a ghost. Which they might as well have. It had been pretty clear that they never really expected to see each other again, what with the nature of a mages life and the argument they'd left it all on, but especially not in the middle of chaos like this while Izuku stood before him in patched Center Magesterium robes and Shoto in stolen Master attire.

Thankfully the dragon was still paying attention as the two boys gaped at each other. The beast saved all of their skins from being cooked off by diving back at the Inferno Demon and taking it's next brutal attack. They all ducked the wafting heat and the girl shouted something encouraging after the dragon that Shoto didn't hear over his stark confusion.

"Shoto, what are you doing here?" Izuku shouted, running at him.

He'd barely caught his bearings on what was going on before the green eyed boy excitedly collided with him. He was crushed uncomfortably in strong arms and his feet momentarily left the ground. This was definitely his old classmate.

"Izuku, not now!" Shoto pushed him off, getting distance as quick as he could, "What are you-how are you-?"

"Talk to your friend later, apprentice!" the girl shouted, a glyph appearing in front of her hands, pulling the ground beneath the Demon to rumble and shake and then split in gradual cracks.

Even still Shoto gaped at the pure confusion of the situation for a few seconds longer, before the dying shriek of the Tempest snapped him back to the panicked present.

"The girl's a mage?" Shoto asked, confirming what his eyes could obviously already see.

Izuku nodded, lifting his staff towards the Inferno that had pushed the dragon off enough to begin lumbering towards the mages again.

"You two flank it," Shoto pointed to either side of it, "If you know ice or water magic now is the time to use it."

The girl nodded and she and Izuku dashed to their tasks.

Izuku threw out a thrilled, absolutely heartening smile at Shoto as he left, shouting behind him, "Don't get yourself killed, Shoto, we have to catch up first!"

It was nice to see the boy hadn't changed much in the month or so since they'd seen each other and that the Center Magesterium hadn't killed his perpetually inappropriately timed good mood.

"_Dragon! Keep it in the center of us, but watch out for our attacks!"_

The dragon gave a short, mental response and dove back at the Inferno, wide wings cutting the air. He went at it like a bird swooping for prey on the ground, keeping the Demon's arms swiping around it distractedly while the three mages positioned themselves at its sides and its front, a safe distance kept by them all. The mages were only human and the physical mass of the Demon would scald to the touch, so they had to attack from a distance, leaving the close ranged attacks to the fire impervious creature clawing its face and shaking the sky with a roar that outmatched the Demon's own.

Shoto had no idea if they had the power to do this, but Nana spoke again and again of his strong affinity to magic and Shoto knew Izuku to be talented. Perhaps that and the addition of this other young mage would be enough to wear it down. And if not…

The idea of using Blood Magic with Izuku, a rule abiding Synod Mage, nearby and knowing what its effects had done him last time sent shivers down his spine, but he would do what he had to do. He couldn't allow innocent people to die while he had the ability to stop it.

Elemental magic hit it from every side, ice, water, and even earth magic meant to counter its hot nature. The effort of the magic used was weighing heavy on Shoto, but he didn't pause, didn't hesitate a single strike due to his own weariness or shaking muscles. It was the final battle at the front all over again, drained as he was, but desperate, fearful, and adrenaline filled, too willful to keep living to let his muscles give out.

The girl's magic was surprisingly tough. Wind and rain sheets cut at the Demon repeatedly while Izuku sent a combination of ice and water slicing with both precision and power. Shoto's attacks were always heavy and powerful. All together the Demon was hardly able to move from the constant, brutal onslaught.

It was wearing down, slowing, and the fire encasing its body was dwindling out, more smoke than flames surrounding it now. It was weakening, becoming vulnerable and Shoto's heart leapt when he realized that a precise strike could likely end this. Their magic trio was stronger than he expected.

"_Get out of range, I'm going to finish it!"_ Shoto warned the dragon through his thoughts.

A red winged body twisted in the air and shot upwards as Shoto used every last ounce of his strength to form the blue glyph in front of him. It was massive and the spire he created was deadly.

His magic sent it like a ballista bolt to strike deadcenter of the Inferno and this time it pierced hard. But not all the way through and not nearly with enough force to kill it.

Shoto stumbled back, pulse pounding his skull as the Demon straightened.

His entire chest sunk. He'd failed. It hadn't been enough.

The ground behind the Demon jutted up and hit it at its balance point before Shoto coud blink. The Inferno careened back and a blur of green shot past Shoto's eyes.

A dying, ear raping roar rattled the village as the ice spire was impacted by a green force so hard that it impaled the massive flailing body, slamming through to burst out behind the Demon. It's flames vanished and smoke and cinders became its only remaining mass as it impacted the ground like a collapsed building. It started to lose form, slowly crumbling into the already ashen earth, becoming part of the burnt environment.

Izuku stood beside it panting while the girl looked back to the village with eyes that told the rending of her heart. Any thought of the Demon they had just slain was gone as fast as it came, her heart was somewhere else.

There was so much to think about and so much Shoto didn't understand, but he did know that they'd managed to kill the Inferno and lives were spared because of it and that was the only important thing right now.

He almost breathed relief, but another shriek came from behind him, reminding him that minor demons were still in the populated parts of the village. It was the first moment he remembered Denki, Mina, Katsuki, and Kyoka since he'd seen the towering Demons. Shoto launched back to his feet, realization and concern painting his eyes.

Shoto had barely stood before the girl rushed past them both, disappearing into the wreckage of what remained of Landsleave. Izuku's hand went up with a cry for her to wait, before chasing after. Shoto caught him before he could get away, with a firm grip on his robes, pulling the mage level with him.

"Wait-"

"What's-what's happening?" Izuku asked breathlessly as they both looked to the village.

Shoto shook his head. "I don't know, but there are minor demons in the village. We left people to take care of it, but…"

Another cry propelled them both back to action. "Doesn't sound very taken care of."

Izuku took into a run he seemed unprepared for and Shoto followed on his heels, air tight in his lungs.

In the back of Shoto's mind he was thinking about Nana, likely injured or passed out in the smoke and ash covered field. The cry of the Tempest was a cry of death, far too much like the Shrike's dying sounds to be mistaken for anything else, but that didn't mean Nana was alright. Even still he knew she would want him to make sure the village was safe before he even thought to check on her.

He and Izuku chased after the girl through the dark smoke cloaking until they made it past the more destroyed parts of the village and back to the part of the town that still had structures standing and farmlands intact. They expected to be walking into a massacre. Instead the scene before them sent Shoto's mind back to the front, time not in the nightmarish way he was used to. Rather in the way that he remembered how the Captain had fought and led with that natural instinct that made even Shoto put aside his loathing to listen and act on his orders.

Katsuki stood over a small demon, foot on its chest, his sword swiping deftly, like it weighed as much as a feather to sever the arms that tried to claw him before stabbing down into what was meant to be a head. As he did he barked orders to their companions.

Denki was at his back, knives drawn, fighting for his life with an exuberant grin. Mina was on a demon's back, back eyes thrilled as she shouted and jabbed her blades into its torso; maybe there was a reason for the apprehension people had towards Moondancers after all.

Kyoka's melodic voice was guiding the last of the surviving villagers, who weren't also fighting for their homes, away from the battle. Her lute was on her back again and her blade cut down a strangler dashing at the defenseless people, unfazed by its dark aura and swiping talons.

The girl that had been with Izuku was there only a moment before them. She looked at the scene for a split second, fire filling her eyes as she pulled the earth in magic to crush and pulverize the demon Katsuki had just been about to cut down.

The Captain didn't have time to be surprised. Only a couple demons remained and they were well in hand, leaving the girl mage to burst past them and into the still scrambling villagers Kyoka was trying to get to safety.

"Mom, dad!" the girl's voice was filled with a frantic fear. Izuku was chasing after her immediately.

Denki and Katsuki cut down the last two demons with a victorious shout and despite the fight being so suddenly over, chaos still pulsed in the air. The Demons were all gone, but the ether lingered. It throbbed in Shoto's ears with a deep unrest.

No one else seemed to feel it though.

"Holy shit!" Denki gasped, dropped his hands to his knees while he crouched "You aren't half bad at this, Captain."

"Shut up and fan out, dipshit!" Katsuki shoved him, "We need to make sure we got all of them!"

The Captain's attention went to Shoto almost accusingly as he glanced back at the mages who ran past him.

"What the fuck is going on, who are those people?"

"Doesn't matter, just make sure the Demons are all gone, I need to find Nana."

Shoto had countless questions too and he wanted to chase after Izuku and get his answers. He wanted to stay with the Captain and hunt down every last demon in the village, make them pay for the horrors they had caused here. But there was no imminent threat before them and the older mage was likely in a bad way.

"You lost her?" Katsuki shouted at him, "The fuck is wrong with you?"

"I'll come with you," Denki's head shot up, worry in his eyes, "You and Mina can handle the rest of this."

Shoto was already running back the way he'd come and the elf was swiftly at his heels, both ignoring the Captain's demands for them to listen to him.

"What happened?" Denki asked, eyes wide, smile gone.

"She took on the Tempest Demon alone, she used Blood Magic," Shoto panted, physically devastated from the fight and hanging on by adrenaline alone, "I don't think she's dead, but she can't be well off."

Surprisingly Denki said nothing, rather unlike him to ever be quiet, as he followed Shoto to the area where the ground was wetter and the smoke was clearing quicker; the last spot the Tempest Demon had been alive, the place Nana had run to and disappeared.

They found the crumbling remains of the Demon easily. It was massive after all and reeked of ether and blight. It was obvious that Blood Magic had killed it too. It's physical body was ripped to shreds and was decaying rapidly.

They found Nana by tripping over her. It was hard to see in the smoke and Shoto's feet collided with her back, knocking him over her onto his elbows, legs still on top of her when he hit the ground.

"Nana!" Denki shouted, dropping beside her as she groaned in pain and pressed a hand to her back.

"Ow, watch where you're going, Shoto," Nana slowly pushed herself up with Denki's help, sounding almost amused.

The elf got her sitting up and then grabbed her tightly in a hug from behind. "Are you okay?"

Shoto untangled from the situation and crouched in front of her, looking her over for injuries. She was a mess, but she didn't seem to be in any pain. Just weary.

She reached back to squeeze her nephew's shoulder and Shoto bit his cheek at the blackened fingertips. She may not be in pain, but the blackness in her skin was lingering.

Nana started to rise, hardly noticing Shoto's pointed stare as Denki got her back on her feet.

"I'm fine," she nodded, "Is the village okay?"

"We saved as many people as we could," Denki nodded, "The Demons are dead, but this place is pretty much destroyed and-WHAT THE FUCK IS THAT?"

The smoke around them gusted away on Denki's words as a mass of red swooped down and landed at Shoto's back.

"_Mage! Where did Ochako and Izuku go? Did they find her parents? Is anyone left alive?"_

Nana and Denki were mouth agape at the creature hovering over them, frozen still as Shoto shot back to his feet and opened his arms in a shrug, like the beast was a regular person interrupting a conversation and not a dragon.

"There are survivors, but I don't know. They ran off into the village, I think she was looking for her parents."

"Shoto, are you talking to that Dragon?" Nana gasped.

"_I have to find them. Thank you for helping our village, mage!"_

The dragon was back in the air in mere seconds, Shoto still confused and discombobulated.

"_Wait! Who are you people?"_

The Dragon was already gone and not responding, already onto its task of finding the girl who had run off.

"Where did that dragon come from?" Denki was shouting at Shoto's back.

"I don't know," Shoto shook his head, coming back to loop Nana's arm around his neck and assist Denki with helping her walk back to the village. "He just showed up and started talking to me, but he hasn't explained anything."

"I'm confused," Denki shook his head.

"Me too," Shoto sighed in weary agreement.

"The dragon was talking to you?" Nana stared at him like he was crazy.

"Yes," Shoto said blandly, purposefully not embellishing and not thinking about it. The least of his concerns at the moment was that a flying reptile the size of a building had communicated to him with its mind. There were dead everywhere and a town half burned to ash. It's survivors were shaken or wounded and that was far more important to be considering. Not to mention the sudden appearance of his old friend.

They had to go deep into the village before they found anyone. Their companions had gathered the villagers at Landsleave's outskirts, just past the last couple houses, Kyoka still trying to guide and control the chaos along with village leaders and the elf girl that obviously scared them. There was crying and screams and the wailing of the injured, but there was no further sign of an enemy.

The people were simple farmers, this attack had devisated them,, but they were quick in responding to the people that had come to save them in creating some order amidst the horror show they'd just witnessed.

At the moment, Katsuki was not using his leadership skills in helping the farmers, instead he was openly, aggressively threatening Izuku, holding the still heavy breathing mage at the end of his outstretched sword.

"You aren't going anywhere until I know who the fuck you are what you're doing here!" Katsuki was yelling at him.

Izuku looked equally perturbed, his hands twisting on his staff like he was considering the consequences of turning the soldier into a pile of ash. Not a normal Izuku reaction, but also not surprising. That was most people's initial feelings towards Katsuki at first meeting him.

"Stand down!" Izuku shouted at him, not as much authority in his voice as he would have liked, "I'm a Synod mage, you don't have any right to bar my way!"

"That means nothing to me, fuckstick, I'm Dawnfelden," the Captain scoffed, "If you don't have a Griffin on your sleeve, you don't have my respect!"

Shoto sighed, exhaustion hitting him in full swing as he realized he had to deal with the Captain once again. He slipped under Nana's arm and let Denki take over supporting her weight.

"Let him be, Captain," Shoto said sternly, "This isn't a good use of our time."

"You aren't in charge, asshole!" Katsuki shouted at Shoto, eyes still burning on Izuku.

Shoto's vision snapped to a tiny glyph forming beside Izuku's hand and he immediately realized what was about to happen. In a jolt he forced his way between them and shoved them out of arm's reach of each other, holding ground between them and knocking Katsuki's sword away. He glared at Izuku for even trying such a thing.

"Enough people have died already, damn it!" Shoto snapped, hardly recognizing his own voice, feeling like he had when he'd stood in Nana's defense to the Lord Commander.

"Shoto," Katsuki said testingly, "He's Synod… He knows you. He knows you aren't a master. We can't just let him go, the entire fucking Synod will be after us in a day. Our entire mission will be compromised."

Shoto hissed at the poignant reality of it and Izuku's eyes widened on Shoto a little harder. "What mission...what's going on?"

"See?" Katsuki threw an accusing hand at him.

"I see the problem, Captain, I'm not stupid!" Shoto shouted at him, lost to his temper, unable to find his usual centered calm.

As their usual mediator, Shoto looked over to Nana. She simply frowned, eyes scraping the ground.

Shoto's heart dropped. She couldn't be agreeing with Katsuki, could she?

"Captain?"

Their heads all popped up on the shout, Kyoka running towards them with a larger man at her side. He was a villager, an older man, bearded and tousled, rough, dirt covered hands and broad muscles showing his profession clearly.

"Captain, this woman said you-"

The villager stopped when the Captain turned towards him and suddenly he could see who stood behind him. Izuku's eyes went wide back at him and he shifted away while the man practically shook where he stood.

"You-"

The man paled when he looked at Shoto, noting his Master robes. The villager also took the cautious step back.

"You want something?" Katsuki glared at him. The Captain was fairly stacked himself and the stature of the village man didn't come as a threat to him.

Kyoka frowned at the scene and then pointedly at Katsuki as she always did. "We came to talk to you about organizing triage for the wounded. We assumed you'd know something about that, unless all those years of military training were as useless as you make them seem…"

"Sing 'em a song and see how much that helps, dipshit," Katsuki hissed back, "Of course, I do. I-"

The man was not listening to Kyoka and Katsuki yell at each other and all mages were watching him closely in those few spare seconds that they argued in ignorance of the tension and anger that had struck the air. Shoto could see it coming, but his reactions were sluggish by the magic used.

That fearful shaking turned to a rage filled shout, silencing everything as the village man lurched forward.

"You son of a bitch!" The man rushed past Katsuki and Kyoka, fist raised at Izuku, "What did you do to her? Where is she?"

"What the fuck?"

The Captain had barely expressed his confusion, before a forceful fist hit Izuku's shield and both Shoto and Denki were leaping on him to physically hold him back from the young mange. Nana was left to stand on her own, but she seemed to be handling well enough to not need an elf crutch for now.

"I didn't do anything!" Izuku shouted back, eyes wide on the tear stained face of the man, "She's here! She was looking for you! I swear I did nothing to harm her!"

"Damn Synod lies!" The man cried.

"Kintsu, wait it's not what you think!"

Once again there was a new person running towards them, this time from the direction of the town. Izuku looked instantly relieved, but Katsuki just had something else to point his sword at while everyone else just viewed the situation in confusion.

The new guy looked like he rolled out of bed two seconds ago, red hair wild, shirt hastily thrown on, not even tucked in, and feet bare. He did much like Shoto had just done a moment ago and went in between Izuku and the man trying to harm him, massive red eyes on the large villager like he was seeing a face he never thought he'd see again.

The man ripped from Shoto and Denki's hands and grabbed the boy in a hug, choking on a tear.

"Eijiro, thank heavens! What the hell happened? Where's Ochako? Is she alive?"

The red haired boy pulled free of his arms, "She's fine, we're alive because of Izuku, actually. Ochako said she wrote to you…"

His expression showed that he had in fact not received such a message.

"Izuku is good, he wouldn't hurt her," the boy continued trying to explain, "Don't be angry at him."

"Don't be angry at him?" Kintsu's face soured, "He and that other mage were going to kill her! I watched them try to kill you!"

"I can explain everything later, but I need you to just trust me, right now," big red eyes got somehow bigger, "Please!"

"What the fuck is going on?" Katsuki interrupted this very confusing conversation.

Eijrio's hands turned firm on Kintsu's shoulders and then looked past him at Shoto, who stared back narrowly, unsettled. There was a strange familiarity about him, but he couldn't place what it was or why the boy was smiling at him like he knew him. Sharp teeth flashed at the mage's face and then the young man was turning to Izuku.

"There's troops from Tarlson coming fast," he told the green eyed boy, hands open, "I need to find Ochako and warn her. We need to hide or something."

"Tarlson troops?" Katsuki looked to Shoto, exchanging worried glares.

"Damn." Shoto huffed.

"She got lost in the crowd...I wasn't able to find her before that guy stopped me," Izuku gripped his hair in frustration.

Two conversations started at once. One between Izuku and Eijiro and the other between Shoto and Katsuki.

"The troops won't be a problem if we act right; you're Synod, I'm Dawnfelden, they'll probably help if we go about it right," Katsuki voiced his thoughts and then went straight into his orders, "Nana, no magic. As far these people are concerned, you're an old lady and that's it."

"Yes, Captain," Nana laughed in a tired voice.

"What am I?" Denki raised an eyebrow.

"Village idiot," Katsuki replied.

Shoto held up his hands. "Hold on, before anyone does anything…" He caught even the attention of the still rage filled villager. "Izuku," his voice was sharp and the boy straightened at the direct address, "I won't let the Captain kill you, no matter what you know, but I need you to trust me on this and say nothing to the Tarlson soldiers. I can't explain what's going on right now, but as far as anyone else is concerned I'm a Synod Master. I need you to play along."

Oddly enough, the boy was quick to agree. He bobbed his head fast, not even a question to the request. "Okay, but you need to do something for me too."

The wailing of injured and mourning villagers were especially loud in the silence that overtook them.

"That girl that was with me, Ochako, is a Renegade...she and Eijiro saved my life and I made a promise not to let anything happen to them...you can't let the Synod take her, no matter what."

In all honesty it was the most shocking thing Shoto had heard that day and that counted the revelation of the night before about the effects of Blood Magic. Izuku was a good Synod Mage… to even imagine that he'd go directly against a Synod verdict was like watching his world flip upside down.

Shoto eyes drew past him to Nana...to his own dirty Renegade Mage secret. It seemed that the world wasn't so balanced for any of them.

Kintsu looked at Izuku with wide eyes, nearly as shocked as Shoto, but the red haired boy smiled at him like it was proving the point he'd been making.

"You have my word," Shoto nodded, somehow relieved that there was an even give and take to the lies they were keeping for each other.

The rumbling of approaching horses punctuated their words.

Katsuki sucked his teeth and slid his sword back into its sheath.

"Alright listen up, Denki, go get your girl," he addressed the elf, "We're out of time for talking it over. You and your whore friend are Dawnfelden agents. Kyoka, you're my aid, fuck off with your complaints. A Dawnfelden delegation doesn't have fucking bards, no one will believe that shit, so suck it up. Nana, you're our Lord Sorahiko's Representative."

"Dick," Kyoka glared at her role.

"Don't make it sound so appealing," Denki rolled his eyes and then gave a half asses salute.

No other arguments were heard. The elf disappeared past them into the chaos of people to find Mina; a simple task seeing as she stuck out drastically among the humans.

The red haired boy ran after him before they had a thought to catch him or to even address who he was.

"Stay with them, Kintsu," Eijiro yelled behind him, "I'll find her!"

"Eijiro!" Kintsu shouted after him, but the boy was already gone.

"Oi!" Katsuki shouted at the older man, stopping any ideas of pursuit, "Are you the leader of this town?"

Kintsu groaned, forlornly looking about the shattered remnants of his home. "Close enough now that half the town is gone."

"Good," he nodded, "Their Commander will likely want to talk to you so you're coming with me. And I'd watch what I say about all of this if I were you."

There was a threat in his voice that made even Shoto shiver. It was a well founded threat, though. Kintsu had heard them admit Shoto wasn't a real Synod Master and could perhaps glean that Nana was a Renegade mage from what Katsuki had said before. But on the flipside they had the advantage of knowing that this Ochako girl was a Renegade too and Kintsu had just as much to lose by letting their secrets slip out.

Luckily, that came across clearly to Kintsu.

Deeply upset as he was, the newly appointed village leader nodded. "I'll keep your damn secret, but if anything happens to my daughter I swear-"

"Nothing will happen to her, I promise," Izuku insisted and the man's hands went into fists at his sides, apparently not pleased with the green eyed boys input.

The hoofbeats were audible now and they could see the mounted military force cresting the uneven land between Landsleave and Tarlson around the outskirts of the vast forest that lay at the small town's back.

Katsuki jabbed a finger at Kintsu. "Let's go. We need to intercept the cavalry so they don't ride in swords swinging. You," he looked at Shoto with grit teeth, "Take your mage friend and put your damn selves to use by doing something about the injured. You've seen a damn triage, I don't need to babysit you."

Shoto hated taking orders from Katsuki, but this was a battlefield and there was no one better to be calling the shots than a Dawnfelden Captain.

"Kyoka, Izuku," Shoto jerked his head behind him to the mess of survivors, "Come with me. Nana, just sit tight and rest. You can't help anyone if you kill yourself."

The older woman was swaying where she stood and gave a heavy nod, unable to argue in her current state, hands still hidden in the folds of her clothes, disguising the reality of what she'd had to do from those around her.

They split up. Katsuki and Kintsu ran out in the direction or the approaching force and the others got right to work separating wounded from well, getting those who were not stricken by grief and hysteria to help. Denki and Mina appeared quickly and Shoto gave them assignments. He may not have been as field experienced as Katsuki, but the Captain had been correct that he was familiar with a triage station. More because he had spent some time in one after that fateful battle than because of any military training.

Instead of discussing any of what had happened, Shoto and Izuku kept mind to task in getting the injured to where they could be better cared for, every capable person in town made to start bandaging wounds, while Kyoka's soothing voice brought the anxiousness in the air down to a manageable level.

Luckily in their scouring and directing of townspeople, the two mages came upon the girl everyone had been looking for fairly easily, though the state they found her in was anything but pleasant. Her knees were in the tilled dirt, tears streaking through her ash covered face while her glowing hands clutched around what looked to be a deep, nasty wound in an unconscious older woman's stomach. The red haired boy, Eijiro, was beside her, hand on her shoulder, eyes turning up wide and worried at the two mages that stopped in front of them.

Izuku gasped when he saw the woman's face and he froze. Shoto on the other hand was much more aware of the horsemen who were even then circling the people and the town and of the men who were now dismounted and moving among the villagers, taking over the command of organizing them instantly.

"You need to stop what you're doing," Shoto looked down to the brown haired girl.

"No!" her voice was a pained shriek, "If I stop she'll-she'll…"

There was a pair of lieutenants moving towards them as they spoke. Another few paces and there would be no hiding that she was using magic. With no sign about her that said she was Synod, their suspicions would instantly be raised as to why a village girl was using magic. Even if the soldiers were too thick to think anything of it, there would definitely by Synod Mages with the force who would definitely think as they should about it.

Izuku's eyes showed the very same worry and he looked desperately between Shoto and the girl.

"Izuku," the red haired boy sounded choked, "Should I-?"

Izuku shut down Eijiro with a sharp shake of his head. He looked Shoto over and grit his teeth.

"Shoto, you need to vouch for her...please…"

"Mage…"

Shoto flinched at how familiar that word sounded on Eijiro's tongue, but shook it away instantly, straightening and tilting his chin up to look the part despite his weariness.

"Ochako, right?"

She looked up and blinked through tears, nodding to him.

"Keep healing her," he said firmly, "You'll be fine. Just don't say anything."

Another nod and she was back focusing on the woman, a last under the breath whisper to her saying, "Stay with me, mom."

Izuku and Shoto turned to the approaching pair and exchanged a tight glance. The green eyed boy straightened up too, any carefree attitude slipping away with any hint of a smile.

"We need to talk when this is over," Izuku whispered under his breath seriously and then added with a touch of amusement, "Master Shoto."

Shoto's shoulder's tensed at the title being spoken by someone he'd been a student beside not three months ago. But it showed Izuku's commitment to the part, to protecting their interests and maintaining the lie for all of their sakes, so all it once it was also relieving.

Any past argument or lingering tension between them was irrelevent as the Lieutenants came up to them, all now a distant thought. Lost to the severity and professionalism of two Synod Mages trained in temperent rigidty their whole lives, trained to bear the proud image of the Synod no matter the underlying personality.

But Shoto wordlessly agreed. Blood Magic, Major Demons, Summonings, dragons, and Renegade Mages. There was a lot they needed to talk about.


	13. Meetings and Partings

"I don't really care who sent you, Captain, you're in Tarlson now and the Lord Commander's orders supersede yours."

The Dawnfelden Captain looked ready to explode. The way he gripped his sheathed sword's pommel was heavy with homicidal considerations.

Shoto stood beside him with an aura of complete calm, both of them presenting themselves unarguably as the leaders of this expedition. Even still, Izuku could see Shoto's frustration with the Commander's words in the one finger that he pressed into his palm to the point of breaking skin.

Izuku felt greatly out of place among the hodgepodge gang of adventurers at their backs. Ochako looked equally uncomfortable with the Moondance elf and the dark haired woman at their side and a Synod Mage and a Dawnfelden Captain in front of her. They had been separated from Eijiro in all this, leaving him to look after Ochako's mother once she had completed her spell. That was a good thing, someone needed to stay with by her side and he prefered not to get the dragon boy involved if he didn't have to.

Were it just Izuku here he wouldn't have been nervous, outside of a rocky curiosity over what Shoto had gotten himself into, but with Ochako here he was wracked with worry that this little facade would fall apart any moment.

Shoto had claimed that Ochako was his apprentice and gave a passive excuse that she was a terrible bonehead and had ruined her clothes and lost her staff when it was questioned by the Battle Mages with Commander Tensei's army. It was obvious that Ochako was unhappy with that, that she hated being even falsely lumped in with Izuku's sort, but it was her own life on the line, and subsequently Eijiro's, if she didn't play the part; they both knew that boy would wreck what was left of the crumbled town if anything happened to Ochako and with an entire army at their backs the Battle Mages would make quick work of a dragon.

To her final dismay, Shoto had cast even more frustrating aspersions on her by saying that she was being punished with silence for the loss of her Synod gifted items, that she wasn't allowed to speak. Izuku quickly backed him up, knowing the girl might blow her lid, but also aware that what Shoto was doing was protecting her from herself. These Synod Mages were experienced and battle hardened and knew all too well what a Synod Mage acted and sounded like. The moment she opened her mouth their suspicions would be alight.

Commander Tensei's forces had gathered Shoto's entire party and sent them to speak with their Commander at the back of the small encampment they were still setting up. Apparently Captain Katsuki was able to communicate that their mission was not for common ears and the tall, well built military commander had waited with the Battle Mage Headmaster on the outskirts to speak with them.

"Commander Tensei, we are bound by assignment from the Synod and the Dawnfelden leaders, you have no right to detain us," Shoto said stiffly and Izuku could almost pick up the impression he was doing, a fabrication of one of their old teachers' stern voices. He had to stop himself from chuckling at the sound coming from his old friend, especially under the cowing eye of the Synod Headmaster.

The Headmaster, a man named Shinya Kamihara, gave the angry Captain and the all too youthful Master a critical once over and decidded to speak before the Captain had a chance to explode at the Commander.

"I've received no word of your mission or of your arrival to Tarlson, Master Shoto," Master Shinya said smoothly. Izuku had thought Shoto had perfected the unfeeling tone of the Synod until he heard this man completely outdo him.

"I already fucking told you our mission is a secret!" Katsuki huffed hot air, "You wouldn't have gotten word, because not even your sorry ass is supposed to know we're here!"

"Captain," Shoto bit at him, demanding him to calm down. A scathing glare cut over the mage and if they were in any other company Izuku was certain Katsuki would have ripped his head off.

"We had not originally planned to enter Tarlson," Shoto explained to the Headmaster, "Our mission led us here, but we are not privy to reveal any more than that. It is not our intention to draw any attention to ourselves and I hope you will respect the wishes of the High Circle in this very sensitive matter, Headmaster."

The hands Shoto had pulled behind his back were shaking around the staff her clasped, but to the narrow eyes of the Headmaster he was the epitome of calm, collected, and even threatening. His words were amicable, but the underlying meaning was biting.

"As far as I'm concerned, your mission is irrelevant," the Commander jumped back in, eyes grazing over the chaos of the scrambling village and rising triage tents, "I have my orders the same as you. We will cooperate with the Synod's needs, but unless you can give me a reason that you cannot be detained a single day, then you and your party will accompany us to the Keep."

Shoto and Katsuki met eyes and attempted to communicate through it. Obviously they weren't so great at it and more pissy faces were made by the Captain than any that relayed some understanding, but at least they landed on the same conclusion and managed not to cause any further conflict between each other or with the Commander and Headmaster.

"Fine, we were headed there anyway," Katsuki grumbled.

Tensei tapped his fist to his shoulder at the Captain, a salute and small gratitude for his cooperation and the Captain tightly returned it.

"Gather your people then," Commander Tensei nodded, "We will leave after a command is established here. And Captain…"

Katsuki glared. "What?"

The Commander's head took a stiff bow at both of them. "Many people owe all of you their lives. My men included. The casualties were deemed to be unimaginable and many men will be returning to their families that we assumed would be lost when we began our march. You have my ultimate respect and gratitude for that."

Something in Izuku's chest fluttered and squeezed his throat. When they'd arrived at the horrible scene there had been no thought before leaping to action. Much like when the Tempest attacked in the forest, he just knew that he had to fight it and protect the others around him, even when he had no reason to. His instincts were just to protect and he'd never really thought much about it. But the Commander's words validated something inside of him he didn't know needed validating. That he was proud to be a Synod Mage because this was their mission, because spared lives were the result.

Even Katsuki looked a little taken aback by the gratitude and if Shoto had the range to show it, he would have been too.

The Headmaster gave a concurring nod and the previously coarse words exchanged didn't seem to matter anymore. No matter the discourse, annoyance or suspicion, they couldn't deny that the only reason there were two dead Major Demons becoming piles of ash in those scorched fields was because of the people in front of them.

"It was nothing to pros like us," the Moondancer grinned proudly, waving it off as the bard tapped her shoulder and raised an eyebrow.

Katsuki then sucked his teeth, crossing his arms, appearing visibly uncomfortable by the blatant compliments and joining the Moondance elf in that confident disregard.

"Don't thank us," he huffed, "In Dawnfell we run towards the fight, not away from it. We see Demons, we kill them. It's nothing special."

Commander Tensei gave a short laugh in his chest and straightened. "I'd expect nothing less from a Dawnfelden Captain. Now please excuse me, I have a lot to do in a short time."

The Commander took his leave and moved quickly into the throng of his army, his lieutenants rushing to his side to report and receive orders. He was seamless and Izuku couldn't help how impressed he was with him. Strong, stern, respectful, and taking every turn in stride. He was a little excited that they'd be spending more time with him, but then that reminded him that he and Ochako were considered a part of Shoto and Katsuki's party and thus he had the entirely new concern of a Renegade Mage, hiding as a Synod Mage, soon to be stuck at the Tarlson Keep and he himself still unable to return to the Center Magesterium. That part he wasn't too upset about...what was he supposed to tell Master Shota anyway? There wasn't the urgency of reporting the Tempest Demon anymore seeing as it was thoroughly dead and with these new developments what was he really supposed to tell them about his mission to bring in Ochako?

It didn't bother him as much as it should that it looked like he was going to be detained even longer, but it didn't diminish his worry over what this meant for Ochako and possibly Eijiro.

"Master Shoto," Headmaster Shinya caught them before anyone could think of leaving, "May I speak to you and your mages before you leave?"

Izuku's heart dropped. Shit, did he know? Could he tell they'd been lying?

Ochako shifted closer uncertainly while Shoto nodded and clenched his hands nervously behind his back, obviously thinking the same thing.

"Mina, will you please look in on Nana and Denki?" Shoto requested stiffly.

"Sure thing," she grinned and tugged the bard's arm to follow.

Katsuki didn't seem interested in sticking around for more Mage talk either and he went with them, huffing one last time and dragging darkened eyes over the two mages at Shoto's back before disregarding them entirely. Izuku didn't really trust the angry captain either and he leaned a little closer to Ochako, almost protectively while he passed. But Katsuki said nothing and stomped off after the others.

Now that they were alone, the Headmaster relaxed only the very slightest and looked over each mage with a critical eye. Ochako went as stiff and dull as she could manage and Izuku had to fight the offended feeling that she was doing an impression of him and Shoto.

"How did you manage it?" Headmaster Shinya looked to the smoldering ash and decaying remains behind the village, "There are only three of you and you have so few years of experience between you, yet an Inferno and a Tempest have been made corpses of."

Even Izuku was a little curious about that and it was oddly relieving that the question was not about Ochako, even if this one was harder to answer.

Shoto's nervousness didn't abate, but the show he was putting on was convincing. "We trained with the Griffin Cohort," he lied, "This is what we do."

Izuku could feel Ochako's confusion, saw the purse of her mouth, but he subtly nudged her to play along. He was going to have to be so vigilant with her making sure she didn't purger herself accidentally.

Master Shinya gave a tiny lift in his shoulder. "I suppose it would account for the Dawnfelden Captain that keeps your company. If ever there were demon killers, they are the children of Dawnfell."

A tight coil in Izuku's chest unwound and he had to stop himself from verbally sighing with relief.

"To do what you did is a feat of powerful mages," Master Shinya looked off, "I can see why you were made Master so young."

Shoto visibly stiffened when the Headmaster's eyes swung back to him. There was no telling if they were suspicious or simply curious.

"Headamaster, I-"

"There is no need to explain your success," Master Shinya dipped his head, "It is not such a strange concept in Tarlson as it may be at the Center Magesterium. The Headmaster of the Tarlson Seat is not much older than you."

"That's true," Izuku added, trying to keep down his excitement, "Master Keigo Takami is only 25 years old and has a pretty astounding record in a really short time. He led the Mages that ended the Blight four years ago and people say he took down an Ethereal Demon and the Mage it possessed all on his own! And his magic proficiencies are-"

Shoto turned a sharp glare back to him. He may not have been a real Master, but he'd already perfected the icy stare of one. It made Izuku come back to himself in an instant and realize he was rambling again, something he just never seemed to be able to overcome.

"Sorry...Master," Izuku tightened his mouth so as not to laugh when he called Shoto that.

"Innocent enthusiasm is a rare trait among our kind," Master Shinya said coolly, "I do not speak for your master, but I urge you not to stifle yourself, young mage."

Izuku was floored.

"Cynicism is for the old," he then bowed his head shortly to Shoto, "And those with the responsibility of the title: Master."

Shoto returned the nodded head and without so much as an outro or true end to the conversation the Headmaster walked past them and returned to the tasks required of his cohort. There was still so much to be done with the village that it made sense the Headmaster and the Commander's focus was elsewhere. This was their homeland and their care for its well being was obvious.

Thankfully, that finally left the three mages alone, even if they were still within eyesight of the army and villagers. They were far enough away not to be heard and to at least physically relax some when they spoke, though.

Shoto exhaled a breath so unsteady that Izuku feared he'd collapse. He reached out to him, but he turned on them before he could, face drawn pale and hands openly shaking.

"Shoto, are you okay?" Izuku's eyes went wide.

Ochako moved a little towards him too, hand open to form a glyph. "Are you hurt?"

The red and white hair mussed together when he shook his head and rediscovered his voice, his face not showing nearly the anxiety that his voice did. "I'm fine, just...I could have sworn we were going to be found out."

Izuku sighed and rubbed his neck. "Me too," he swallowed, "That was terrifying…"

"I didn't know if I would be able to stay quiet for much longer," Ochako's hands turned to fists, "Why did you tell them I wasn't allowed to speak? That was a pretty dirty trick."

Izuku went a little sheepish, but Shoto answered coolly, "You would give yourself away in moments if you spoke around a Synod Master. I'm sorry about that, but we were trying to protect you, especially with your obvious contempt for the Synod. You don't seem to hide it well, even without being able to speak."

Ochako hissed through her teeth and crossed her arms indignantly. "Saving me from myself? I don't know if I even want to thank you…"

She let that hang for a good moment before she mumbled at the ground, "Thank you...for me and my mom."

It burned Izuku's heart with an iron to see her shoulders drop at the mention of her mother and he squeezed a hand on her shoulder comfortingly. It was a close call, but Shoto had given Ochako enough time to bring her back from the brink. She was still in pain and had healing to do, but she would live. It was obvious how hard it was to step away from her and pretend that she wasn't anyone special in front of the Lieutenants, but it was a small comfort that they'd left her with Eijiro. At least she was in caring hands and he would get her back to Ochako's father.

Ochako's eyes lifted and she allowed sincerity to grace a tiny smile. "I've been pretty lucky with the Synod Mages I've met lately, I guess."

Shoto shifted, "Maybe not so lucky as you think."

"But really, Shoto," Izuku interjected, "Thank you. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been there…"

"How did you end up with a Renegade Mage in Tarlson, anyway?" Shoto's face tightened and he blushed, pushing their gratitude away, still not so great at receiving genuine feelings from people it seemed, "I thought you were better than this."

"I thought you were too," Izuku gave a nervous laugh, "Looks like neither of us are the perfect Mages we thought we were. You're lying to Masters and I'm hiding Renegades. If our younger selves could see us now…"

Shoto physically cringed and shook his head of the unsettling thoughts. "This is serious, Izuku. What you've done could destroy your future. What if you're found out? You could be reconditioned or banished. You shouldn't have given all that up so easily."

Izuku didn't like his tone. It was deep with concern, but it struck so hypocritical and a touch bitter. Izuku's smile dropped and he got that spark of anger in his chest he hadn't felt in months, instantly bringing back the memory of their last encounter and their fight, something he'd nearly forgotten until then.

"And what about you?" Izuku said stubbornly, "You could face much for what you've done, so don't scold me for my decisions! You have forged papers, stolen robes, a stolen signet ring, and from what I can tell you've abandoned your post!"

"There's no post left to abandon!" Shoto snapped defensively and then flinched, suddenly drawing back, like he was catching his anger.

Izuku's eyes went wide on him. He'd never seen a reaction like that from Shoto. It was brash and snippy and ached of an unhealed hurt.

His hands were shaking again and Shoto had to take a second to calm himself before speaking again.

"The front fell, Izuku," Shoto stared at the ground, voice calmer, "Our cohort...the Dawnfelden army, the armies of the lorships...everyone is dead. The Griffin Cohort was gone before we got there and there has been no word on finding the Summoner from the Synod or any others. And now the entire world is unknowingly trapped in a month-long standoff with the crushing force of the ether until Nana's magic runs dry and the Archdemon is free to burn the kingdom to the ground."

Ochako stifled a small gasp and Izuku's chest sank. His hand lifted towards his friend..

"Shoto…"

Eyes that had seen things Izuku couldn't imagine struck him harshly.

"I should be dead three times over. Katsuki should be dead. We didn't abandon our post, we survived it and...unless we complete our mission all of those lives will have been lost for nothing. We're survivors of a massacre with nothing left to lose, Izuku… We already lost everything so our souls are just a drop in the damn bucket. But you...you still have a future and promise in the Synod. I regret involving you. I've put you both in worse danger than you were before…"

His head hung, jaw clenched on his admittance, "What I have to do will make you lose respect for me...and I'm begging you not to ask me more about it. I understand what I'm doing, I understand the consequences, but I know it's the right thing to do."

Every word stung. He knew his heart wasn't the heart of a normal Synod Mage and every pained admittance confirmed it. To even imagine what Shoto must have seen there and to understand even a hint of this burden, ached Izuku with sympathy.

Shoto moved closer and dropped his head, hands in fists at his sides, "Please don't ask me what I have to do...as soon as the Lord Commander releases us, I'll send you both on your way and we'll be even. I'll do nothing to hurt Ochako and in return you won't reveal my misconduct to the Synod until I come forward about it myself."

"And you won't tell on Red either?" Ochako quickly asked.

Shoto pursed his lips, uncertainly.

"The uh...the dragon," Izuku clarified.

Shoto's eyes lit up and he nodded. "Of course, not! But I don't know how you plan to hide an entire dragon."

Izuku threw a knowing smile to Ochako and then shrugged to Shoto. "He has his ways."

To agree would leave so much unanswered, but truthfully it didn't matter in the end. Izuku's focus was keeping Ochako safe and he couldn't help that he trusted his friend, despite previous discourse. That argument felt so childish now, the petty spite of children who didn't know who they were.

"Whatever you need to do, Shoto, we'll have your back," Izuku nodded resolutely to him, "As long as Ochako is safe then I won't ask any questions."

"Thank you," Shoto took a relieved sigh, "I won't either…"

He glanced over Ochako and then Izuku, his eyes showing that he was making a few of his own conclusions, even if he wasn't asking the question he wanted to about this relation.

"And Shoto," Izuku's face flushed, looking away from him, rubbing his arm nervously, knowing this was something he needed to say, "Um...about the last time we talked…"

"Izuku, you don't have to… It doesn't seem relevant anymore."

"I do, Shoto" Izuku chewed his lip, "I was unfair to you. You aren't a coward...you've outdone me a thousand times over in bravery just today and I take it all back. I was just upset that you were jealous and I was reacting because your words were spiteful."

Ochako watched the interchange with fascination, but stayed quiet while Shoto scowled.

"You were hardly the person at fault for defending yourself," Shoto shook his head, "I accept your apology, but you have to accept mine too. I've stayed bitter with you since then and that's been more unfair than your reaction. It's not easy for me to watch you live the life I wanted, but that's not your fault."

"Well to be fair I could lose that status too if we aren't careful," Izuku shrugged, trying to lighten things again, "If even a hint of where I've been the last month gets back to the Synod I'll never see the Center Magesterium again."

Ochako made a tsking sound and Izuku heard her mutter that it wouldn't be such a bad thing. Oddly enough he smiled at it. Their opinions on the Synod may have been clashing, but after everything they'd been through today and the scare Ochako had faced of almost losing her mother, it was strangely comforting to hear something so very normal from her as a scathing opinion of his profession.

"So we're all agreed then?" Shoto squared his shoulders.

"No questions and everyone goes their own way as soon as we finish pandering to the nobles," Ochako smiled, "I can agree to that…"

"Same here," Izuku nodded.

"Then come with me, we should inform the others," Shoto jerked his head towards the encampment.

He started moving and Izuku and Ochako fell in step beside him, their path resolved.

"What sort of people are these companions of yours," Izuku asked, "They seem rather mismatched."

"Nana is a Renegade Mage," Shoto said blandly, staring straight ahead.

Ochako's head jutted out ahead of Izuku, eyes wide on Shoto. "Really?"

"How-?"

"We agreed on no questions," Shoto cut him off.

Izuku laughed through his nose and shook his head. "I guess that explains why protecting Ochako wasn't a big deal for you. And the rest?"

"Denki is a Solstice elf, he's Nana's nephew," Shoto went on, "If you ask him he won't explain it like that; from what I can tell, elf customs are strange. Mina is a Moondancer and the two of them apparently got kicked out of their respective tribes for what I can only assume is arson or forbidden love...it wasn't exactly clear. They've proven to be useful, even if they are somewhat sly and a little...handsy."

Shoto's cheeks went pink and Izuku mirrored him, thinking how his new friends were also a little more physical than a Synod Mage was used to.

"I'm...familiar with the type."

"I've never met a Moondancer, she really did catch me off guard," Ochako marveled, "So strange, but almost alluring. Those dark eyes make you scared to look at them, but you also don't want to look away."

Shoto gave a quick nod in agreement and continued.

"Kyouka is a bard, she has a history with the elves," Shoto said and then hesitated, "She brings her own abilities to the table, but she and the Captain don't get along and they won't say why."

"And the Captain?" Ochako sounded a little put off when she asked and Izuku felt much the same. There had been less than a stellar first impression between them.

Shoto's mouth turned down at the corner. "He's good at what he does. The rest of the time he's a pain in the ass. Hopefully you won't have to get used to him."

"Have you?" Izuku asked almost as a joke, seeing the annoyance Shoto was trying to hide.

The little dip in his mouth momentarily turned to a full frown and then his expression leveled out again as they got close to the encampment.

"I'm alive because of him," Shoto said plainly, touching the scar on his face that Izuku knew hadn't been there when he left the Magesterium, "And as a Dawnfelden Captain I respect him. But I also want to kill him most of the time."

With some direction from a frazzled sergeant the three of them managed to find where Denki and Nana had been sent, a small tent separating them from the rest of the chaos, but dropping them in the midst of it at the same time.

Inside the tent they found the rest of Shoto's party crammed into the small space. There was a single cot that the older woman and the bard sat on, legs hanging over as the older woman scarfed down food like she hadn't eaten in months. She didn't look so near death as he'd seen her before and life was steadily returning to her cheeks.

The two elves were in each other's laps on the ground beside them, already proving Shoto's comment about being handsy, and the Captain stood near the entrance, his head scraping the top of the tent which was not really made for socializing as much as resting.

The Mages were assaulted with instant curiosity and questions the moment they entered, but Katsuki hissed at all of them to be silent.

"We're in the middle of the fucking encampment and these aren't exactly walls," he bit at them, throwing a hand at the canvass surroundings.

He had a solid point and their voices dropped to whispers.

"Nana, Denki, have they filled you in?" Shoto asked.

"Yeah, we're dining with kings!" Denki raised an excited hand and Mina clapped her own hand against it.

"No," Shoto corrected, "We're being held overnight at the Tarlson Keep until the Lord Commander finishes speaking to us. We'll be more like being pampered prisoners than guests."

"You should be used to that by now," Katsuki curled his lip at the Mage.

Shoto chose not to respond and instead shifted in the low ceiling environment to step aside and make the two mages with him more visible to the rest.

"Everyone, this is Izuku and Ochako," Shoto introduced them.

"Mages?" Kyouka asked.

Izuku nodded to her.

She reached into the bag on her waist and retrieved a small notebook and graphite, immediately jotting things down. "Interesting development."

"Just what we needed, more mages" Katsuki grumbled.

"We aren't staying with you so you can keep your pants on," Ochako wrinkled her nose at him.

"What sort of Mages are you?" Nana tilted her head at them, her eyes lighting up with a curious smile.

"I know Izuku from the Magesterium," Shoto explained, "And Ochako is a Renegade, like you, that he has been protecting."

That got everything's attention and Nana's eyes especially held a fond intrigue on Izuku.

"A kindred spirit of yours, I see," she smiled at Shoto, "Since when did protecting Renegades become so popular among Synod Mages?"

"It's really not a popular opinion," Izuku rubbed his neck nervously, feeling under inspection, "Ochako saved my life and I'm returning the favor."

It hurt a little to say it like that, to disregard that it was as much for the friendship they had formed as for repaying debts, but truthfully, Izuku was still on the same path as before. He would still have to separate from Ochako and Eijiro once their safety was confirmed and pretend none of this had ever happened once he was within the walls of the Magesterium again. All this would be was an extension of their time together.

He felt Ochako's stare harden on him and she shifted uncomfortably at his side.

"I had to vouch for them to the Commander and the Headmaster," Shoto went on to explain, "Until Tarlson decides to butt out of what we're doing they will believe that Ochako is my apprentice and Izuku is one of our party. Once that's out of the way, we will go our separate ways."

"That's a real shame," Mina pouted, "Think what we could do with four mages!"

"We don't need to involve more people than necessary," Nana shook her head at the girl, "I still don't think the two of you should even be anywhere near this and I'd send you home if your father would still take you; you're too young and immature for what is the come."

Denki scoffed, "Come off it, I'm older than you are!"

Offhand Izuku was taken aback at the statement, but quickly recalled that age was not exactly the same for elves as humans. The human woman's experience was clearly greater than that of the youthful elf and she showed it by the disbelieving narrowness in her eyes that made him quiet down only seconds later.

"Do they know what we're doing?" Nana's voice grew dark, looking back to Shoto.

He shook his head. "No, and we're going to keep it that way."

Shoto directed pointed stares to the elves, who he made agree to watch their mouths from here out. He didn't make the Captain or the bard agree, but they didn't seem the types to need such a thing reiterated with them.

With that established and agreed upon, the Captain wasted no time getting back to business.

"We need to be ready to ride as soon as the Commander finishes establishing base," he moved to stand where all eyes were on him, "They found our horses and brought them back, but they need to be watered, fed and made ready for travel. Nana, you need to be on your feet by then; we'll tack your horse, but that's all I'm doing for you. And you," he looked to Ochako, "finish any business you have left here, Renegade. You may not be back for a while."

Captain's Katsuki's tone was somehow chilling and sincere at once. Just the fact that Katsuki didn't seem to believe that this jaunt would only be an extra day of their time was unsettling, but the fact that he recognized Ochako's position in this situation was surprisingly aware. He hadn't expected the guy who acted as though everything pissed him off to take someone's personal needs and family ties into consideration. But he was a soldier...he was perhaps more acquainted than most with taking people from their lives and families; knew the importance of final words with loved ones, the relevance of clearing distractions before setting off for war. This wasn't war for Ochako, but it was dangerous and Ochako deserved the chance to see her parents beforehand, so Izuku gave a solid agreement.

"If you want to see your parents, then we need to be careful," he touched Ochako's shoulder with a nod, "Let me go with you…"

Ochako's face was constricted. "I do need to see my father and make sure mom is alright...but I don't know if you should come with me, Izuku. My father may try to kill you."

Izuku bit his cheek thinking about how that had already happened. Eijiro had managed to talk him down, but that didn't mean there was no bad blood left and if her father lost his cool again it could draw unwanted attention and questions. But Ochako couldn't go out there alone either. What if a Battle Mage stopped her? What if someone saw her speaking to her parents and made the connection of their relationship?

"I'll go with you," Shoto said, taking them both by surprise, "Izuku, get a couple horses ready for you and Ochako and we'll meet back here within the hour."

It wasn't ideal; Izuku didn't quite trust anyone to protect her properly, but Shoto had already proven himself to have everyone's best interests at heart. For all of their sakes Izuku would have to let go.

"Thank you, Shoto," Ochako swallowed, her distant eyes saying she was already mentally on to her parents and what she would say.

She gave Izuku's arm a quick squeeze, assuring him that she appreciated his offer, but then nodded to Shoto that she was ready. They slipped out of the tent without another word, leaving Izuku with the colorful cast.

There was no opportunity to get further acquainted, though, before the Captain took instant command and directed everyone, save Nana, to follow him to prep their horses for the short journey.

"I promise I'll be fine, dad...I'll be back before you know it."

Ochako sniffled as her father tucked her even closer under his arm, petting her hair, loath to let go.

Shoto watched with narrow curiosity from the doorway of the mostly half crumbled home that they were hiding in. There were a few others inside, all injured villagers and their families resting off the trauma they'd experienced. They were apparently close friends of the Urarakas or at least knowledgeable of the girl's situation since the girl and her father spoke openly in front of them. Most didn't seem to be listening, though, preoccupied with their own horrors.

Ochako's mother was one of those recovering injured. She laid beside Ochako and Kintsu on makeshift bedding, unconscious once again. She had managed only a few words to her daughter after Ochako had applied another healing spell to her wounds before she quickly passed out.

Shoto didn't have a mother himself, but he couldn't imagine that coming that close to losing one was anything but horrifying. But Ochako showed great strength amidst it, even though her face was red with tears. She didn't waver in what she had to do and assured them that once the village was back on its feet and the army was gone, everything would go back to the way it was before, that she'd be home and they would get right back to tilling and planting the next season's crop.

But her every insistence drew Shoto's mind to Nana's words, her voice swirling in his head, repeating her story and the horrors she'd lived through. Mages weren't meant to have families for a reason and as long as Ochako tried to be a part of these people's lives she was putting them in danger, both from herself and from the Synod.

Shoto tried not to linger on it. There were much bigger problems afoot and, unless he and Nana defeated the Archdemon, the risks that a young Renegade was putting her family in wouldn't matter. If the Archdemon broke through and the Summoner wasn't stopped then even this horrible battle would be like a tiny skirmish in comparison to those consequences.

Feeling Kintsu's eyes burning on him, Shoto lifted his gaze to meet it with steeled resolve, grasping instantly the challenge in her father's stare. Shoto confidently nodded agreement to the wordless threat; he wouldn't let harm come to Ochako if he could help it; he'd made a promise with Izuku after all.

"Ochako, be careful...I don't trust Synod mages," he muttered, "They tried to take you from us once before and I promise they will do it again."

"Not these Mages," Ochako pulled back from him a little, "You're all alive because of them and they've risked a lot to make sure I'm safe from the Synod. That's about as much as they can do to prove themselves."

She leaned back in for a last tight squeeze and then quickly slipped free from his arms.

"I'm going to miss you so much…" Ochako's eyes were red with tears and before she could hesitate and change her mind, she spun on her parents and walked quickly to the doorway where Shoto waited.

"Ochako…" her father whispered after her, voice cracking.

"We need to go," Ochako said quietly to Shoto when she reached him.

He completely agreed and he swept out behind her as she went, creating a barrier between her and what she was leaving behind, not allowing her to look back. She couldn't be allowed the opportunity to change her mind and do something brash.

Her sniffling was audible and he viewed her critically once he leveled her pace at her side.

"Dry your tears, it'll look suspicious," Shoto said stiffly as they moved out into what remained of the village, striding along what had once been the main village road, now just a well trodden path through charred remnants.

Ochako's hands batted against her eyes, sleeves wiping away what they could, the redness still stinging despite her best efforts.

She took a sharp inhale trying to overcome her emotional state. "I'm fine. I'll just say you kicked dust in my eyes for being a disappointing apprentice."

Shoto turned a scowl at her.

"That's not something a Master would do," he corrected her, "Discipline is a lot cleaner in the Synod. You shouldn't say anything like we agreed."

She rolled her eyes, falling into an even step with him as she tried to blink out the redness. "It was a joke. Do you understand jokes or is that banned by the Synod too?"

"I understand jokes," Shoto frowned at her, only truly catching the satire now that she mentioned it, but too prideful to admit it, "That just wasn't a very good one. Synod Mages are not prone to crying, especially not where others can see them. I'm just trying to keep you from drawing attention."

Ochako glared at the ground in front of them. She held herself close as they passed through Landsleave and neared the part of the village that had been reduced to unrecognizable ash , much of it not even intact enough to be called ruins.

Something compelled them both to stop when it opened clearly in front of them. It was heavy with a dreading aura and even Shoto couldn't propel his feet to keep moving when he came face to face with the real results of what the Major Demons had inflicted.

The girl shivered and Shoto couldn't blame her. Commander Tensei's forces were still too busy seeing to the living and quartering off the area to have addressed this part of the village yet. People still lay where they had died, where minor demons had caught them, where a gust of fire had burned them to smoldering heaps. The stench of rotting humans and burned flesh lifted over the places that had once been homes, shops, taverns, and staples of human life. And there was no time to do anything about it, no time for them to lend respect to the dead by helping bury them or change anything about this horror before them. The soldiers and villagers would take care of it when they were able, but for now the battlefield, no, the massacre remained as one devastating moment frozen in time.

And what was worse, for Shoto, was that everything about this place felt so much like the Dawnfelden front had. The smell, the littered corpses that they could do nothing about and the ever poignant weight of the ether hovering close stung with the sharp stab of memories that had made him unable to sleep at night.

He had to physically shake himself, rubbing his hand down across his face to sober up. He couldn't let himself linger on the memories, could allow the crushing force of the enemy's influence to shake him from his path.

Shoto turned to Ochako, primed to demand that they get going, to leave this place, to escape the dark memories that were all too distant and all too recent, but her expression caught him. Her face was streaked with a few fresh tears and her eyes were fixed shakily on what was in front of her.

"I've lived here my entire life," she said quietly, watching the still wafting smoke twist upwards, "These people are my friends and family and these places are everything I've known. If...if we'd come yesterday or...or if we never tried to save Izuku in the first place, maybe… If we'd just been here!"

Shoto stared at her in silence. He had no talent for comfort and in all honesty the things she said were a little too familiar for him to be comfortable with.

Ochako shook her head though and slapped both of her cheeks in her hands, waking herself up rather violently. She wiped her face against her arm again and tried once more to force it all back down.

"Can't change the past, can't change the past," she took a shaky breath and then turned up brown eyes to Shoto's watchful expression.

"We need to leave this place," Shoto met her gaze evenly, pushing down all of his own compromising feelings. There was no time for this.

Believing that he'd had the final say, Shoto attempted to walk away, but he got no more than a pace before Ochako had taken his wide sleeve and pulled him to a stop rather suddenly.

"Wait! I need to see Red before I go… He won't know what to do if I just disappear without telling him."

With a confused raise of his eyebrow, Shoto looked around them. "It's not wise to bring an entire dragon out in the open. He should stay away if you don't want him found."

"No, he won't be seen," Ochako shook her head and pulled him along, already moving in the opposite direction of where they needed to go, "Trust me, no one will know."

Shoto ran along after her, left with little other choice since he wasn't supposed to let her out of his sight. "Where are we going?"

"If we get separated we always meet up behind the butcher shop," Ochako explained fondly, "He'll be there, I promise."

Shoto followed her across the street and up the village a ways, then around a half collapsed building. It stank of spoiled meat, confirming it to be the butcher shop despite its storefront a collapsed heap and its sign a charred wood slab, hanging on it's last nail.

Right as they skirted the corner of the shop's back, Ochako let out a surprised sound when an intercepting hand grabbed her arm and pulled her in.

Shoto went right into an attack position, but they both dropped their fear the moment they saw who it was. Izuku had called him Eijiro and Shoto realized he'd nearly forgotten about their red haired friend who had been so adamant about finding Ochako before.

Now that she recognized him, Ochako dove into his waiting arms, both of their grips exuberant and excitable.

"I knew Izuku wouldn't let them hurt you, but I was so worried Ochako! Are you alright? What happened?"

Ochako pried herself free from his strong arms and took his wide eyed face in hand, holding him still from bouncing out of his own skin with nervous energy. "Red! Relax, I'm fine."

Shoto looked around them, taking a full turn of the area, seeing no one else. His head tilted at them in confusion. "I thought you said the dragon's name was Red?"

Bright red eyes popped up from Ochako's face, only then seeming to realize Shoto was there.

"Mage!" The boy turned unreasonably excited and Shoto took a cautious step back, a little afraid that this boy might be inclined to the same indescrepencies as Izuku.

"I'm glad you're here," he beamed a smile, but stayed by Ochako, "We should really talk about what happened out there."

Ochako scowled up at Eijiro and then back at Shoto. "What happened?"

Eijiro met Shoto's gaze directly and Shoto lost his grip on reality for a moment at the notion he suddenly got, staring into those eyes that were almost human but not quite.

This kid couldn't possibly be…?

"He understood me," Eijiro explained, arms moving around expressively in his excitement, "And then he talked back to me, not even with his voice. Somehow we connected!"

Shoto blanked while Ochako turned a confused look back to the other mage. He was staring almost dead eyed at Eijiro now, taking his time coming to the conclusion he didn't quite understand, but couldn't deny after that statement.

"You're...the dragon?"

The boy nodded, flashing big sharp teeth.

"But I thought humans can't speak dragon," Ochako's eyes went wide on her feet and then she narrowed them at Shoto, "Did you use a spell?"

Shoto shook his head. "I've never even heard of such a spell."

Eijiro gasped on the revelation he had and was hardly able to hold still when he asked. "Wait, are you a dragon too?"

"What? No!" Shoto blinked, taken aback, "I don't even understand how you're a dragon!"

"Magic," Eijiro shuffled a little closer to Shoto, looking him over closely, "A shapeshifting spell that a Bog Mage taught me so I could communicate with Ochako and hide among humans. You could easily be the same thing. You /are/ a pretty strange looking human."

The boy, who was apparently in reality a dragon, pursed his mouth and cocked his head at Shoto quizzically. "Your spell may need some work. You look human and all, but the rest of your features are kind of weird to pass normally."

Shoto had never been exceptionally sensitive about his appearance or given it much thought, but he knew the perfect part of his hair mixed with unmatched eyes made him a genetic oddity. An oddity, not some freak of nature that couldn't be considered human.

He turned a harsh glare on Eijiro, unable to help that he was a bit offended.

"I'm not a dragon," he insisted, "And if anyone should work on their shapeshifting spell it's you. Your teeth are way too sharp for a human and your pupils aren't round enough. I don't know how you've survived this long without anyone being suspicious."

Eijiro's mouth dropped open to defend himself, but he ended up frowning at the ground while Ochako turned a fitful glare on Shoto.

"That's really rude, mage," she bit.

"What's rude is letting him go around impersonating a human and not even making sure the spell is completely convincing."

Ochako looked about ready to blow her lid at him, but then Eijiro's head popped up and he blinked a few times, shaking his head a little, while flecks of light danced down his cheeks.

"How's that?" he opened his eyes wide for Shoto to inspect.

The mage was taken aback. The eyes were perfect. Perfectly human, all traces of dragon suddenly gone.

His mouth opened in a grin to show off his flatter, human teeth and Ochako grabbed his face to look at it more closely. Her eyes were wide with surprise.

"Red, that's amazing," she gasped, "Why didn't you do that before?"

He shrugged as she let go of his jaw, "I didn't realize it didn't look right until the mage said something, it's not like I see my own face very often. Thanks, mage!"

Shoto pulled into himself a bit. He'd just yelled at the boy in a rather petty show and the kid had taken his yelling as advice and followed it. It made him feel incredibly sheepish, but he put on a show of confidence, when he dropped a soft nod.

"It's Shoto," he corrected.

"I'm Eijiro," the red haired boy responded, "I wish you were a dragon, though. That'd be pretty amazing."

"He's not," Ochako said, "He's a Synod Mage."

It sounded a little bitter, but that didn't bother Shoto, just reminded him that they couldn't keep lingering.

"Ochako we need to leave. The others will be waiting on us soon enough."

Ochako's face dropped and Eijiro grabbed her arm again before she could go anywhere.

"You're leaving?"

"Just for a couple days at most," she shrugged away from him gently, "It's not safe for you to come with me. I need you to stay here and look after mom and dad."

That boyish exuberance vanished and when she tried to step away he jerked her back in place, eyes darkening. "No! I can't protect you if I'm not there and you're a hundred miles away."

"You don't have to protect me," Ochako ripped her arm from his hand and his shoulders slumped, "Sometimes you need to protect yourself too! You can't risk being found out."

Eijiro huffed hot air from his nose, his stance planting stubbornly, "I can stay in this form as long as I have to."

"And if something did happen to me, then what?" her voice was equally stubborn, but laced with concern, "Are you going to shift back into a dragon in the middle of the Tarlson Keep and fight an army on unfair footing? You'd be dead before you can flap your wings. Look, Izuku will be with me and Shoto agreed to cover for me as well, I promise I'll be fine."

"I can still fight with this human body!" he demanded, "I'm still strong, stronger than any of you humans are! You've always said that you don't trust Synod Mages and now you're trusting them more than you trust me?"

"Eijiro, please," Ochako took his hands, looking into the now truly human red eyes that had turned so sharp with rage. Despite how perfectly convincing his new form was, his dragon spirit was bleeding through in his anger.

The girl tried to appease and calm him to little avail, but even as his lips parted in another argument, a nearby shout cut off their conflict.

Shoto looked down the street where they'd come from and stiffened on the sight of a pair of corporals trying to flag him down, running their way, calling out to him.

"Master Shoto!"

The mage cursed and struck intense eyes on the girl and the dragon boy who had begun to lightly panic.

"You have to leave right now," Shoto snapped at Eijiro through his teeth.

Eijiro grabbed Ochako's arm tightly again, looking at Shoto with a fearful upset. "But-"

"Now!" he sounded almost angry, but it was truly just desperation.

He didn't want to see the boy get hurt or caught up in this and if he was seen conversing with two Synod Mages behind a decimated building he would be instantly involved. Shoto had agreed to protect him too when he'd spoken to Izuku and Ochako earlier and even without that he definitely owed him his life for the fight with the Inferno earlier. He couldn't let the kid act foolishly.

Ochako's head whipped back and forth between them and finally she shoved Eijiro away forcefully. "Red, go!" She said through grit teeth.

He obviously had much more that he wanted to say and the rage in his eyes at losing his last few moments with Ochako was clear, but the two stubborn mages demanding him to leave forced him to pull away and run. The soldiers were almost on their position and Eijiro only had time to duck around the other side of the building before the two men came to a halt in front of the mages.

They gave a brief salute and Shoto mocked one in return, not used to returning military salutes even in his time at the fronts; it wasn't practice for Battle Mages.

"Master Shoto," one of them said, "Commander Tensei asked us to retrieve you. The second messenger hawk returned and you have been ordered by the Lord Commander to leave immediately for the Keep. He would like to meet with you before nightfall."

Shoto clenched his jaw in annoyance, but gave only a short nod to the corporals, before jerking his head at Ochako to follow along. She centered herself impressively quickly. There was still red in her eyes and he knew there was a lot of pain and regret swirling through her head, but she did her best to keep it off of her face.

Her impression of a detached and focussed Synod Mage didn't stop her from peeking over her shoulder, back in the direction of where they'd left Eijiro, as they went, and even Shoto couldn't help indulging in a few backwards glances with her. They didn't see anything or anyone, though. Apparently, Eijiro really had listened and left. Ochako was seemingly upset not to see him, but Shoto knew that was for the best. They could only serve to hurt him at this point.

The corporals led the way back and Shoto made sure they were following more than a few paces behind, keeping distance. It wasn't his strong suit to be positive, comforting, or personable, but he felt compelled to whisper to her what was perhaps an empty encouragement.

"Keep your head up. You'll be home before you know it. He won't be waiting long."

Ochako drew a critical gaze over him, holding on the scar on his face. He could feel the boring intensity of her eyes, but he kept his own straight ahead.

"I hope you're right."


	14. Hearts of the Unrequited

A/N: I'm back! Yay! I'm still trying to work on multiple things at once so my uploading will probably continue to be scattered, but my attention is back on this now so hopefully there will be multiple updates over the next month. It's a long one again, but what else were you expecting from me?

The pair of travelers had been on the well worn road for nearly 20 hours since the night before with only short stops to rest the horses. Fear and anxiety drove their restless race against time, but according to Commander Tenya, there was still almost a day's worth of travel between them and the Tarlson Keep.

As Momo's body groaned and ached with every shift of the saddle beneath her, she looked with a sighed relief on the sign that sat in the road's divergence just ahead, telling them that the Lordship of Tarlson was within reach and the small town just at its border was near. Tenya had told her they were going to rest there for the night once they reached it and the princess gasped relief to have an end in sight to the wearisome journey.

She was understandably exhausted. The things she'd seen the night before plagued her mind like nightmares. The assassin, Hitoshi, with Toru the Spymaster, dead at his feet. The magic in his grip that twisted such persistent fear in her gut. The fact that he'd willfully allowed her to live and that the only reason she was not a corpse was the assassin's apparent apathy and some idea that he'd already accomplished his mission despite her still being alive. The question of what his mission had been was a constant wonder and she hated every answer she'd managed to conjure.

Her deep inner turmoil kept her incredibly silent in their journey and Tenya said very little himself. His eyes were distant as well and little was exchanged that didn't have to be. A day ago Momo would have died to spend time like this with the handsome, talented Commander, but there were so many bigger things overwhelming the young, girlish desires in her heart. Yet at the same time she felt weaker to them, like it was too tiring to stop herself from longing after him despite how foolish that was and how ill timed.

After what felt like ages in the saddle, creating sores Momo had no idea could exist, they made it into the little town and found their way to an inn. They took their horses to the stables, rubbing them down and preparing the animals to rest up for the conclusion of their journey the next morning, still in a distant sort of silence.

They had no money with them and Momo realized the issue the moment they entered the inn. She wasn't a princess here and she couldn't be. It would have been incredibly unsafe to reveal who she was to anyone within the border of Tarlson considering the possible war that was soon to ensue and the general tension that was kept strong between the Lordship and the Capitol. This wasn't like the castle, she couldn't just demand something and get it.

Tenya had been a prisoner moments before their escape and he didn't even have his armor or his own sword to his name on his person. The most either of them had with them was a few rations that had been in the saddlebags when they took them. But when Tenya approached the innkeeper they spoke as if they knew each other and the man behind the counter greeted him with kind familiarity.

"Commander, welcome!" he shook Tenya's hand with a wide grin, recognizing his status without his uniform or insignias.

The Commander briefly explained their situation, in the context that he told the man that they were traveling without supplies and were in desperate need of a meal and a bed. He made some excuse of being on an urgent mission for Lord Enji and having been robbed in the night. There was discomfort in the Commander's face when he told the tale and explained that Momo was someone he came across traveling alone that he was too chivalrous to allow to make the journey without some protection.

Momo watched him silently and felt her heart squeeze as she realized the agitation came from the fact that he was lying. His honest nature was strong and it pained him to look a friend in the eye and tell a falshood. It was an incredibly admirable trait and Momo had to double check her heart for the way it skipped a beat.

After Tenya promised to double what he owed him for said services when he had the chance to return, the innkeeper happily showed them to their rooms, full faith in the Commander to stick to his word. It still shocked Momo that a man from Tarlson of all places was so trustworthy. Her entire world felt like it was opening up just to follow silently along with him.

The room itself was far from what Momo was used to, but she found herself wide eyed and mesmerized at her surroundings when she stepped inside the simple lodging. It was doused in novelty to her and even shouldering the responsibilities that had been dropped on her since the previous day was unable to diminish the small thrill of excitement she got in considering that she would finally be able to spend time among commoners and to experience a taste of their daily lives, like her father had in his youth.

She held down that excitement until the innkeeper left, telling them that he would be serving dinner shortly and they could come down once they had settled in. But as soon as he was gone she let her wonder surface at the bland, poorly lit texture of the room, seeming to forget that Tenya was still lingering at the doorway.

"Commoners live in such small spaces," she drifted through the small room with wide eyes, "However do they fit everything?"

Tenya chuckled from the door, reminding her that he was still there.

"This is just an inn, your highness, it's only meant for overnight. People don't live in places like this."

"Oh," she blushed a little at her misunderstanding, "Also… You should probably stop calling me 'your highness'. We're not in the appropriate company."

He nodded thoughtfully, "Should I just call you, Momo then?"

"Yes."

Her chest fluttered again and she kicked herself for feeling that way about him calling her by her name. Not as hard as she might have before. The more time she spent with him, the weaker she was becoming to these juvenile feelings.

"Only as long as you don't think it disrespectful," Tenya said.

"Of course not," she lingered a few steps away from him, finding that she was shifting on her heels and taking on a bashful look despite the confidence in her words. "We are friends now, after all."

A small smile pulled the corner of his mouth, pushing past the heavy aura that had surrounded them this last day.

"I'd be honored to be your friend, Momo," he tilted his head towards her, still rigidly standing just outside of the threshold of the room.

Silence returned and an awkward weight dropped back over them. They were both so deep in their own heads and it only seemed to be getting worse. The overlay of anxiety that draped across them since the assassination attempt was unrelenting.

Tenya straightened and after a moment of letting the silence sit, he shifted back and took a breath to say he would be going, but Momo's heart lurched and she beat him to it.

"Commander, would you mind staying for a bit and talking with me?" Her gut spun full circle at her own suggestion, wondering where such an idea had come from.

Tenya looked about them uncomfortably. "It would not be appropriate to-"

"We can't talk freely in the common area or in the hall and I fear I might lose my senses if I have to simmer silently in my thoughts much longer," Momo pled, "Everything that's happened the last couple days… I just need to talk about it. Please ignore propriety for an hour or so just this once."

Dark eyes relayed the heavy feelings in her chest and he stared back with a tense expression, caught between his decency and the need to be of comfort to the princess who had seen so much distress over the recent days.

Finally he sighed and nodded, moving awkwardly into the room and shutting the door at his back, lighting the lantern and candles within before parting the curtains to let the last glimmer of sunset into the room.

Momo sat on the foot of the bed, hands folding in her lap and heat burning her cheeks. This was still extremely awkward, but the idea of him leaving and all this still hanging over them without any resolution was far worse than the discomfort of the seemingly inappropriate setting.

Tenya didn't quite know what to do with himself after he'd let as much light in as possible and looked around for somewhere to sit. There was not much in the room and no seating, so Momo moved to the far end of the foot of the bed and patted beside her to indicate that she was fine with him sitting with her.

Hesitant as he was, he sat down next to her, dipping the bed with his weight as he took on another rigid pose, hands on legs and staring ahead.

A lump formed in Momo's throat to consider what it was she was trying to say, what it was that she wanted to vent. It was everything really. It was concern for Fuyumi who they had left behind at the castle, wonder over what Togata would think when he heard what had happened in his absence, the near death experience of their escape, and the pure dread of considering the possibility that the King and the Lord would be too difficult to convince of the truth. The fear that she didn't have what it took to stop a second war from happening.

But what she started with was the most recent fear, the one so present that it haunted her every waking thought since they had made their escape from the castle.

"What did the assassin mean when he said he'd already done what he came there to do?" Momo said quietly, staring at her hands in her lap, "I-I'm happy to be alive, but how could he have completed his mission if I wasn't dead? What could he possibly have come there to do if not kill me?"

She glanced up to see Tenya pale and his fists clench.

"I've been burdened with the same fears," Tenya admitted, "We don't truly know who even sent him! It was not Lord Enji I can guarantee, but if not him, then who? Maybe someone trying to start a fight between the King and Tarlson… But who could benefit from such a thing?"

Momo sighed. "We are only creating more questions for ourselves, aren't we?"

"It seems so," Tenya grit his teeth.

"But you know the assassin, don't you?" Momo prodded.

"Barely," Tenya replied, "He had been assigned to the Tarlson Seat for no more than two months. He's about your age, which means he's a newly graduated student of the Magesterium. They sent him to Tarlson like they have many mages before and Headmaster Keigo assigned him to menial work within the Keep. The only reason I even recall him is because of the shock I received the first time I came eye to eye with him. He was intimidating and the violet color of his eyes were so sharp, but I never recall him doing anything abnormal. If anything I heard less complaint than usual for a young apprentice given such demure work. Like most Synod Mages he gave off very little in the way of personality either. The things I have now witnessed him do were nothing I had ever considered him even capable of up until now."

"Could perhaps this Headmaster Keigo have been the one to give him such a mission?" Momo suggested.

"Absolutely not," Tenya frowned deeply at the idea, "He is a valiant Battle Mage. He is a bit eccentric since he is young to be a Headmaster, but he has only ever acted in devotion to Tarlson and the Synod. There is nothing for him to gain from inciting war or killing you, especially not with the overhanging threat. He is all too aware of what he and his Battle Mages are responsible to do if Dawnfell is unable to hold the front. Besides that they are already grappling the emergence of demons beyond the fronts in our own homeland. He would have no time to plot subterfuge even if he desired to."

Momo got very quiet, stomach dropping at the threat she'd entirely forgotten about.

"That's what Togata was sent to fight."

"Yes, but please do not speak of it," Tenya's hands turned to fists, "We are hoping not to let fear take hold in the populace. For now we have only seen minor demons, but that's still more than most Lordships are trained to deal with. As rare as it might be, an inexperienced mage opening a pathway for a demon to come into our world is known to happen in times of peace, but not to this degree. This is unprecedented. Like nothing we've ever seen. There were even...dead."

"Dead?" Momo turned her eyes up at him in confusion.

"Risen dead," Tenya clarified, disgust in his voice, "We have heard that Dawnfell has been battling armies of undead forces at the front, which tells us that the Summoner is a Necromancer, but that's the front. Such a great number of demons and the undead walking beyond Dawnfell's defense tells of an entirely new threat."

Momo shifted, turning a leg up onto the bed so as to face him. She didn't want to feel a sense of thrill, but she got to talk so little of the war with her father that she was jumping at the opportunity to delve into the horrible matter at the first opportunity. It horrified her and scared her, but as the future queen she was determined to know what was happening in her kingdom.

"Tell me about it," she said resolutely, taking a deep breath to ready herself to hear more horrors, "I want to know everything about the war. I am sick of being left in the dark and especially now with another war threatening to stack atop the one already in progress I should know."

Tenya frowned and hesitated.

"Your high- Momo," he caught himself, "This is not a pleasant topic. It's not something for the ears of a young woman-"

"I'm the future queen!" Momo snapped and then caught herself, realizing her identity was not something she should advertise so loudly, "I'm not just a young noble. I have to rule this entire country when my father passes on. Perhaps I'm young, but so was he when he had the weight of the world thrust upon him! I can debate politics with every noble and negotiate with every nation, but if I am not allowed to know about war then I have already failed as a leader."

It struck him harder than she had expected and his surprise was clear, though he nodded solemn understanding after.

"You're correct," he agreed, "I'm sorry that I moved immediately to treat you as fragile, you've already proven that you aren't. Forgive me for immediately acting to protect you. I've done it so long for Fuyumi that it's become a pure instinct to protect those I care about."

Momo tightened her mouth, taken for a loop by his wording. Was he saying that he cared about her?

A shake of the head dashed away the thought. "It's forgiven, now please tell me of the war."

Tenya turned a thoughtful side eye, "How much do you know about Summonings?"

"Not nearly as much as I should. I know that they begin with a Fallen Mage and that they bring an Archdemon into our world from the ether. I know that the Archdemon commands Major and minor demons at the will of the Summoner and I know that Dawnfell stands as our defense to that onslaught."

"Do you know why that is?" Tenya quirked his mouth towards her, "Why Dawnfell is the lordship tasked to protect us?"

"I suppose not," Momo pursed her mouth, "It's always just been known, same as that water is drawn from a well. I never thought to ask why."

Shifting to sit more comfortably on the bed, Tenya's ease made the awkward tension give way to a heaviness. The conversation was to be a serious one, but despite the weighty nature of the Commander's tone, Momo's chest pulsed with excitement. Excitement to finally know what had so long been hidden from her.

"It is because Dawnfell sits on the edge of Demon's Rise," Tenya made motions against the blanket on the bed as though it was a map and he was laying out the geography, "Others call it No Man's Land; it's miles of dead wasteland and the only thing beyond it is Dracos. It's harsh, unforgiving, and unfortunately, a place where the veil between our world and ether is the thinnest in all of Gaetha."

Momo swallowed remembering the stories that sat most uncomfortably with her. "That's where my grandfather and uncles died…"

Tenya only nodded.

"A Mage can summon a minor demon anywhere, but an Archdemon…" His finger swirled the place on the bed that he had wordlessly determined as Demon's Rise, "Well, according to the Mages in our court, only a place that the ether lingers a breath away from our world has the capabilities to let an Archdemon through and only a Fallen Mage has the power to Summon it. In all of Gaetha, Demon's Rise is the only place that it can be done. When your father became king he conferred with the Magestrate at that time once the Summoning was ended and, through the lives of many Mages, an infrastructure was created around the entire border of Gaetha that repelled anything born of the ether from entering. The only place such a ward could not take hold was in Dawnfell; the ether is too strong there, it broke the spell as soon as it was cast."

A sighed pause punctuated his words, eyes on where he had motioned Dawnfell to be on his non-existent map. "Before there was a ward Dawnfell was our first defense, but now more than ever they stand as the most important structure in our country. They are the cork in the bottle that is Gaetha."

"So why did my father send armies to Centra and Minstrel and not Dawnfell?" Momo tapped her lip, "Are they to wait at Dawnfell's back as a secondary defense? Just waiting for the first defense to fail?"

"More or less," Tenya tapped two spots behind the discolored bit of fabric, "If the Dawnfeldens fail, those two lordships have to be fortified to take the brunt of an even harsher force. There will be no bottleneck and preparing for a possible failure on the part of Dawnfell has to be considered. Our first priority is to support Dawnfell, but there can only be so many men guarding the fronts. All extra forces must support the bordering lordships while the rest of us try to keep the country together behind them."

Momo watched the imaginary map closely. "And has Dawnfell fallen? Is that why we are seeing demons and undead beyond the fronts?"

He looked thoughtfully at the princess. "No, as far as we have heard report of, Dawnfell still stands. Which means the Summoner remains behind its lines as well, so it cannot be the Summoner who is bringing in these hoards."

"Why is that?" she looked up at him.

Her curiosity was met with an intrigued smile, despite the topic.

"Headmaster Keigo explained it to me like this; when a Mage becomes Fallen, he opens himself up to the influence and corruption of the ether, which, more than anything is why it is so scorned, even if the acts of those horrible mages weren't so abominable. When a Mage completes a Summoning he is practically inviting the full consumption of the ether and they become like creatures of the ether themselves. Just like a demon, a Summoner cannot pass through the ward in or out of Gaetha. To reenter they must pass through Dawnfell and that bottleneck is too tight for one to pass through without first meeting the Dawnfelden Army."

Momo nodded quickly, a prideful thrill in her chest that was proving her father wrong with everything she learned. She could see no reason why she couldn't know the things Tenya was telling her.

"You're saying that this can't have been done by the Summoner, because the Summoner is barred from entering Gaetha," she clarified, "So if Dawnfell is still holding their forces back, then someone else is bringing these monsters into our world."

"That is the frightening reality, yes," Tenya sat forward on the bed again and leaned down his elbows to his thighs.

"Wouldn't it be worse if it were the Summoner?"

"Hardly," Tenya shook his head, "Any Synod Master worth his salt can find a Summoner as easy as his own shoes if the man is he's foolish enough to get back into Gaetha. But if we are dealing with lackeys or a scornful mage mimicking the Summoner's actions then finding the source of this threat will be far more difficult, nigh impossible if he's any good at keeping a low profile. Our Mages are seeking him out, but the damage may be done before they have a chance to subdue him."

Frustration etched Tenya's brow as he continued.

"Tarlson and Wingsleeve were both delayed in sending reinforcements to Dawnfell because of these wandering demons and the threats following them. Since Dawnfell's last request for reinforcements every Lordships has been scrambling to prepare a second wave of forces, but if there are such threats so close to home none will be able to be spared. As a nation we are becoming disorganized and faltering. There are too many places in need of proper defense for the manpower we have available."

Large hands rubbed over Tenya's face as he spoke and Momo began to feel guilty for even asking. It was clear that the subject was distressing to him, that his concern as a military commander was eating away at him.

"We should not even be teasing the idea of infighting when Gaetha could so easily fall to the ether," he fumed, his rigidity lost to his aggravation, "This wasn't the time for a royal wedding either. I have deep faith in our King and even more in Lord Enji, but such a frivolous thing could have been left for a time of victory, a time when Lady Fuyumi would not be left entirely alone no more than three days from her wedding night."

Bitterness tainted his tone and Momo couldn't help the defensive rise it gave her.

"There was nothing frivolous about it," she argued, "Alliances are important, especially at times like this. We had to have Tarlson at our backs."

"It doesn't really matter now does it?" he stared at his hands, "Despite all that effort to seal allegiance, your father rides to war against the very man he sought to make peace with. What good did that wedding really do in the end?"

It was tempting to argue, but she took a mental step back. She allowed herself to see this from his perspective for a moment, to not sit in her bias of being a Yagi and the self righteousness that tended to follow. The prolonged quiet allowed her time to watch him closely and see past the aggravation and frustration. Her shoulders slumped in guilt when she realized the root of his scowl. It was, as ever, worry, fear, concern for the girl left behind. His charge who she had made him abandon.

Momo skipped past giving his very open ended question an answer and addressed the real concern instead.

"I promise you, Fuyumi is in no danger," she insisted, "For her sake there may be true benefit to that marriage in all of this."

"How so?" Tenya forced himself to sit straight again, the scowl falling from his face.

"As I've said, even the harsh nature of my mother won't reach her if Togata is there to vouch for her. And he will vouch for her. I could see it in his face the day he left. She caught his heart quickly; she ensnared him in less than a week."

A chuckle broke the seriousness as Momo wrung her hands, thinking fondly.

"I always knew it wouldn't take more than a gentle hand and a pretty face to steal him away forever," she smiled, "He's too easily smitten and far too loving a person. He's needed someone to love properly ever since he was a boy."

Tenya was quiet, watching her intently.

"I have never had the capacity to fill that void," she shrugged one shoulder, "I've always considered myself a placeholder and even in the most platonic sense I've scolded myself for growing so attached to him, since there was always going to be some woman who was going to take him away. I never could quite picture what sort of girl could do that. Who could stand up and knock me down, who could push me from my pedestal as taking up the biggest place in his heart? I always supposed such a woman would be fierce or perhaps she would simply be funnier than me. But since I came to know Fuyumi better, it really couldn't be anyone else."

That made something in Tenya's gaze falter and it was visible when he swallowed.

"Even in her fear and timidity she was immensely brave and even though Togata is no more than a stranger to her she has been nothing but respectful and charitable towards him. She is giving every effort to be a wife to him even in his absence and I can see her willing her heart to want him in return. I can't imagine ever giving such effort to something I care so little about."

Momo finally went quiet to allow Tenya to say something in return; it was there the whole time, something itching to burst from him but never reaching the surface. He spoke towards his folded hands when he finally did, his voice confident, yet emotional.

"Of course, she is brave," the bitterness from before was strangely absent, "She has had to be brave every day of her life. She does not deserve to be further tested in more trials of bravery and endurance for the whims of the men in her life. Fuyumi will be strong through this because it is what she knows and I will never fault her strength, but at some point she deserves a respite, doesn't she?"

They were the words of a man who's life was not that of a noble, someone who had tasted freedom in its true form and could no longer see the stringency of royalty to be sensible. Momo hated it too, she wasn't going to pretend that she was excited to have her opinion on a marriage partner be of no meaning in the coming years, but she also understood why these things were done.

"It's the life of a noble," she explained and rolled her eyes while she paraphrased her mother's old saying, "It's the trade we make for the fancy dresses and nice dinners."

"That's not what I mean," Tenya exhaled slowly, "I was practically raised in the Keep, I'm all too familiar with the lifestyle and the tradeoff. But there's been no fair trade for her in this life. The benefits mean nothing to her. She doesn't care about the life of ease. There's no true _ease_ in it and she doesn't have some great power to boast of. She's a pawn to political whim and the subject of constant abuse and I'm simply sick of watching it, unable to do anything."

Not convinced that this was simply more vicious scorn towards the noble's lifestyle, Momo inched towards him, head tilted to better see how his face had twisted back to anger.

"What do you mean abuse?"

Tenya winced as if realizing he had said something that perhaps he shouldn't have. He bit his cheek. "It's not my place to speak on such things-"

"You already have," Momo crossed her arms at him, "I've already proven that I will not do anything to harm her or her position in my home. She is my family now and I want to know if someone has harmed my family."

Hissing like someone had jabbed a fresh wound, he looked away from her while he answered.

"Before you jump to even worse images of the Todorokis, I assure you no such harm came to her from her own family," Tenya insisted, "Natsuo was a good kid and even if the years have changed him, he still loves his sister. Her father has always been cold, but he values his children and would never lash out unless given a real reason…"

He spaced for a moment and Momo flinched at the poignant pause. It was like a very clear image came to Tenya's mind on the thought of Lord Enji's wrath and she was immediately certain that she didn't want to know it.

"Enji's great flaw as a parent is that he is too good a leader," Tenya shook himself back, "His priority is his Lordship and maintaining his force and position in the kingdom. He ignores what isn't immediately relevant. So when it came to his own family he often didn't see what was happening under his very nose. There were many people in his court ready to take advantage of that."

The flickering of lantern light became the only movement, the waning sunlight giving way to the orange glow of sunset.

"I wasn't always there to do something about it," he said quietly, "She refused to allow anything to be said to Lord Enji or her brother. She claimed that it would look weak and she feared that she already looked weak enough to her father. Nothing I ever said could change that Todoroki heart of hers. That pride. She would just 'be brave', just 'be more careful next time'. Just make sure she didn't wander the Keep alone at night. Her own home."

She didn't ask him to elaborate. Even if her assumption was wrong, she had a vivid enough image.

"You never tried to tell Lord Enji about it?" Momo tasted bile, "If someone harmed his very own daughter, he would certainly take action!"

"Tell me," Tenya frowned, "If a palace guard went to your father and told him that one of his right-hand men had raped you and you refused to speak on the matter, would he believe the guard or the man who had spent years earning his trust?"

Momo didn't answer because it was obvious. If the victim wouldn't corroborate such a story the man of a lesser position was sure to be the loser and gravely punished for the insinuation.

There was tangible intensity in the clenched fist on Tenya's knee. "I've done everything in my power to protect her, since I knew how to hold a sword and I'll keep doing so until my dying breath. But my heart yearns for a day where she is not just brave, but happy."

His words put an ache in Momo's chest. Not just for the thought of someone harming such a pure, genuine spirit as Fuyumi, but for the way Tenya looked talking about it. He was so pained and his very heart had made its way onto his sleeve the longer he spoke of her.

"She must really be an amazing woman to have such loyalty and devotion from you," Momo's sympathetic smile faltered.

Brown eyes pulled away from hers as though they were trying to hide themselves. "Perhaps I'm just drawn to strong people…"

Momo had slipped slowly to close the distance between them, now no more than a finger's width apart. Aware as she was of how incorrect her behavior was, she allowed herself to sway a bit where she sat and nudge their shoulders together.

"Is that why you're here?" she grinned sheepishly, "Am I such a person of strength?"

His brow pulled together, still looking away from her. "Yes, I have great respect for you and believe as a leader one day you will guide with fortitude."

She hummed. "Thank you, I'll take flattery any way I can get it."

Confusion tightened his brow and Momo grit her teeth. This wasn't Togata she was talking to. The Commander didn't know not to take her words seriously.

"I'm joking," she clarified, "But I respect you too. You're truly an amazing man and Fuyumi is lucky to have had you protecting her for so long." Her mouth pursed sheepishly. "I guess I'm the lucky one now."

A glance told her he was still watching his hands closely, a wrinkle in his forehead denoting thoughtfulness.

"Hardly," he responded shortly, distractedly, then shook himself from his small stupor, "By which I mean that there's nothing particularly fortunate about the situation we're in. I'm proud to accompany you on this journey, I just don't believe there is anything lucky about it."

"I don't know about that," Momo leaned even further into his personal space, catching his eyes to hers as she spoke, "If any other man had been given your task to safeguard Fuyumi I may not have escaped the castle at all. And even if I had made it so far as the courtyard, I would have fallen to the assassin without you. And worse still there would be no one riding to Tarlson to stop my father from the terrible mistake he is about to make."

"I think you are giving me too much credit," Tenya shifted, but his direction seemed uncertain.

"I don't believe I am," Momo's heart made motions she was unfamiliar with and her hand slipped closer to him while she held his eyes.

"Your highness…"

Her hand had found its way onto his and folded around his fist, tensing harder under the contact as he went completely stiff. But Momo was not to be distracted by subtle body language. Even the voice in the back of her head that screamed for sensibility had found itself muted.

"I have no doubt in my mind that I owe my very life to you," Momo's breath was a shudder as she came ever closer.

"What are you-?"

His words cut off in a shocked sort of gasp and she could feel his breath mix with hers when he spoke. Her chin tilted up at the pulse of her heart and the heat in her skin drawing her into him.

Lost to this feeling she wanted to know more of, she moved to excite it further, to satiate it with the person in front of her, but his face turned away so fast she felt the whip of the wind that it kicked up.

"Momo. You don't understand what you're doing." His hand pulled out from under hers and he created space.

Momo couldn't move, shock and shame crushing her entire spirit at the clear rejection.

But it knocked down the barrier between her and her senses like a hammer to brittle bark. The princess was on her feet with speed that she did not know she was capable of. Her insides were a different sort of mess, a low dose of adrenaline flowing under her skin and her stomach sick from pure embarrassment.

"Commander, I-"

"Please don't mistake my rejection, your highness," Tenya stood quickly, moving into her sightline frantically, hands up, "It is not a reflection on you! You're…"

Amidst her own panicked feelings she turned her eyes to Tenya's face and found a flustered red in his cheeks and anxiousness in his stance. He kept a certain distance, but he spoke with the need to reassure.

"You're a beautiful woman," he continued, "And as I've said I respect you greatly! I am honored to be anywhere in your esteem and look forward to years of your rule. I would even look fondly on a true friendship with you, but…"

Momo stayed silent, her voice stuck in her throat, despite how she wanted to reassure him in return that she knew her intentions a moment ago to be entirely foolish.

The Commander's eyes grew distant and his fists turned white at his sides. She hadn't seen him this frantic when they were in battle and Momo was oddly scared that she was capable of having such an effect on a person.

"But I cannot be _that_ to you. Even if such a thing were practical I can't give you that. My heart is not for you… I cannot share it."

Arms crossed Momo's stomach, squeezing to abate the nausea. It hurt to hear those things, but relieving as well. Her foolish heart had grabbed hold of an infatuation, but she was no idiot and she knew exactly how problematic even a slip up could be. She was too young to be falling into an affair before her father had even decided on a betrothal for her. His rejection was forcing her to be responsible and however her heart ached against it, she almost thanked him for it.

Momo trembled when she exhaled, anxious energy trying to escape with nowhere to go.

"Your heart already belongs to another…" it was hard not to sound disappointed even still.

"Nothing could truly ever come of it," Tenya swallowed, eyes still wide on her, "I do not expect that I am saving myself for another, but I do not want to be what breaks your heart because I cannot return your affection. I only want to spare your feelings before you become attached… I know all too well how painful it is to love without reciprocation."

Momo's assurance that she actually agreed with him and that he didn't need to worry so heavily over her desire to try such a thing again was snatched away from her tongue as she listened to him. The wheels in her head were spinning and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. There was something curious about what he was saying and she couldn't put her finger on it.

"Commander," she frowned at the floor, "I'm young, not an idiot. These sort of...inclinations are somewhat new to me and you are the one who deserves the apology for me not keeping myself in check. But I am not under any assumption that even if I had somehow… If…" Burning cheeks framed every word with striking embarrassment, "I know better than to believe that there can be anything real between us. My marriage will be aligned by my father's wishes and it will certainly not be to anyone of a status lower than Lord. And despite what my mother says, I do not believe that even in the most unhappy of marriage that there should be underlying affairs."

The Commander nodded, agreeing.

"I have to be above these things," Momo lifted her head confidently, despite the shaking in her hands, "As queen I will be setting standards and I believe I have to be upheld to something more than the selfish frivolity common among the nobles. My kingdom asks more of me than to be a flighty young woman who grows attached to the first eligible man she meets."

A soft smile graced Tenya's lips as he met her gaze again. "I can't possibly have been the first eligible man you have ever met."

One of Momo's shoulders shrugged.

"I suppose I just have different criteria for what makes a man eligible," she gave an easy laugh under her breath, "The men of my family are not the sort you see everyday and they've set my standards very high. I have proposals of courtship weekly and there have been strong, fair, ugly, handsome, and the like among them. But they are nobles. Not a backbone among them."

The fists at Tenya's sides eased their tight grip, tapping against his leg in a few motions.

"I am used to a far different sort of noble," Tenya shook his head, "In Tarlson a lack of backbone or strength is unheard of. Were it not for Dawnfell we would be considered the pinnacle of strength in Gaetha and we take pride in that."

The way his very own pride seemed to swell as he spoke pricked attraction in Momo's chest again. Why did he have to make this so difficult?

"If a strong match is something you want, there are none prouder or stronger than Tarlson's elite, especially the Todoroki family..." Tenya said lightheartedly and then dropped his smile, "Although, I know it's not my place to say such things."

Momo cringed at the very idea of getting closer to the family her parents spoke so suspiciously of. But it was hard to keep that aversion as strong as it had once been when she now knew Fuyumi and Tenya who spoke so well of them. Her caution was not entirely diminished, just slightly lowered.

It was not in her interest to further discuss her own prospects, especially not those from Tarlson, so she shifted the direction of the topic, holding her arm with an ever swaying stance.

"And the woman who took your heart so thoroughly, is she a daughter of Tarlson too?"

He looked away from her and nodded slowly. "Yes."

Hard as it was, Momo spoke gracefully.

"Well then I hope one day to meet this person who has so enraptured you that you refuse the future queen." There was a laugh behind the statement but it was forced.

His frown deepened, but he didn't respond.

Perhaps she was crazy, but the room felt suddenly colder and the longer she stared at him without a response the more everything she had heard him say today muddled together in her mind. There was nothing outright suspicious about anything he had told her, but something was still not sitting right. Maybe that was just her jealousy at play. Maybe…

"We should eat and get to sleep," Tenya disrupted her inner dialogue, stepping back and moving to leave, "I'll leave you to settle in and meet you for dinner."

"Tenya," her voice followed him.

Momo wasn't sure what she was saying even as she said it, but somehow the lurch in her chest from watching him go snapped back with a clear idea. It came out without her even thinking it through.

"It's Fuyumi, isn't it?"

The air was static as he came full stop and Momo knew immediately that she was right. There were no words for what horrible ache overwhelmed her in that moment.

Tenya didn't look back, but after a long pause his head dipped down in a stiff nod. It became quite clear with that single admittance how entirely unreachable his lover truly was.

Momo's voice caught in her throat. "Then I'm deeply sorry."

"Don't be," He surprised her with how lively his voice was, "I am resigned to my fate. I have been for years."

The door opened, but before he left he turned a warm smile back to her. There was no pain in his eyes, nothing she expected to see of a man talking about his unrequited love.

"I've outgrown infatuation," he clarified, "As long as I can keep her safe and happy I'll have fulfilled every personal desire."

Momo shrunk under the selfless statement. It was hard enough forcing herself to keep her hands and heart in check when faced with a small opportunity towards someone she had known for such a short time. She couldn't even imagine how it was possible to be so resigned about someone he had loved for so long, even to watch her marry another without ever trying to interfere.

She almost wanted to ask, but Tenya was more than ready to leave and she couldn't rightly keep him longer, especially after she had led him from one uncomfortable situation to another.

"I'll see you downstairs for supper then," Tenya gave a final bow of his head, "Don't give any of this another moment's thought. I am happy in my choices and I hold no ill will to what happened between us."

The princess returned the gesture. "I won't."

When the door latched shut, Momo collapsed back onto the edge of the bed, wondering if she could even stomach to eat dinner, because her reply was a massive lie. Every word and every foolish action stayed aching on her mind the rest of the night.

The strum of a lute accompanied the clop of hooves as the land rolled out before them and the village of Landsleave became a speck in the distance.

Kyoka's voice rose over the company, maintaining silence from every lip except her own. The five men in Commander Tensei's troop were enraptured by her and her own company listened with mellow delight to her descant.

_/Strike fast your final blow/_

_/Oh, drop the banner down/_

_/These lands and life forsaken/_

_/Your path at last foretold/_

_/Fight not the lonesome winter/_

_/Barricade not your home/_

_/Rise not in streams of moonlight/_

_/But beware the path foretold/_

_/Flee not deaths mortal canter/_

_/Fall first to the blizzard cold/_

_/In waning hope, resist not/_

_/The path that was foretold/_

_/But why, oh woeful speaker?/_

_/Why tell of despair alone?/_

_/Tell me, why accept the darkness/_

_/Of the path you have foretold?/_

_/I tell the fates of all men/_

_/Of the youth, the proud, the old/_

_/This path is all life's endings/_

_/This path I have foretold/_

In the Magesteriums they didn't play much music. They studied ballads in books, but they were rarely sung. Songs were for contemplation on the past, learning and bettering of self from the message within or the lessons of those who came before them more than for meager enjoyment. Mostly they were morose like this one, but there was a stark difference between silently reading the words in the quiet of the Magesterium library and hearing the bard - pretending to be a military aid- twist them to a tune and roll the words from her talented tongue.

Izuku gaped amazement while he relished in the so often unheard sound of music, blessing every aligned star that he'd positioned himself to ride beside Kyoka while the party made its way through Tarlson to the Keep. Ochako rode on the other side of him, keeping close and cautious, no apparent interest in the girl's song.

Just behind them rode the elves and then at their backs a pair of Tarlson soldiers took up the rear, keeping them together, and stopping anyone from straying or falling behind. Commander Tensei took the lead with the other soldiers he'd taken from Landsleave and Shoto, Katsuki and Nana rode directly at their backs. Not a large party, but an intimidating one for all its Synod power and physical prowess.

When Kyoka's song came to an end Izuku didn't waste a moment before gasping, marveling, and cheering it on.

"You have such an amazing voice, Kyoka!" he said, "I don't think I've ever heard someone sing so beautifully!"

Izuku felt sharp red eyes spin on him and he flinched under the severe gaze of Captain Katsuki, wordlessly demanding he watch his mouth. He shrunk a little, but kept his smile on Kyoka.

"Thank you," she smiled back, fiddling with the strings on her lute to adjust the tone.

"Kyoka is extremely talented," Mina chimed up behind them, "She's my favorite of you humans."

"It's pretty easy to be your favorite when you make so many of them your enemies," Kyoka raised an eyebrow, not even looking back. Their voices stayed low enough that they didn't quite carry clearly to the Tarlson soldiers flanking them, but remained far above a whisper.

"Our line of work is tricky," Mina shrugged, "But we make plenty of friends too. Just look at all the new friends we've made in such a short time"

"I don't think the Captain considers us friends," Denki countered, "And it's not like those two are sticking around for very long…"

The last was said in a whisper towards Izuku and Ochako and put a weight in Izuku's stomach, but Mina didn't comment on it.

"Katsuki can think what he wants, but I'll make him my friend whether he likes it or not," she crossed her arms with a firm nod.

"Didn't you say he almost killed you?" Kyoka physically turned her body to scowl at the elf.

"Well she was trying to rob him at the time," Denki's arms opened.

Mina nodded at him then Kyoka. "It's only fair." She followed it up by rubbing her throat and swallowing hard. "He was a bit rough though."

"It's what you get for fighting with a Dawnfelden," Kyoka sucked her teeth and turned to look at the back of the Captain's head. "Especially that one…"

Izuku hummed, taking silent interest in their interactions and the subtle slump in Kyoka's shoulders when she returned to watching Katsuki. When he'd seen the two of them earlier there was a strong bitterness in how they interacted, more than just his angry vibrato with everyone else, like something made him sick just to talk to her. But now that it was just Kyoka looking at him it was different somehow. Like it saddened her to talk about him.

Curious if he was the only one making such an observation he leaned over towards Ochako whose eyes had stayed firmly on the forest they had skirted the entirety of the journey so far.

"Hey, Ochako, have you-"

"What?" She practically leapt out of her skin at the sudden call to her attention, eyes blowing wide on Izuku.

His question didn't conclude, just faltered there as he watched her.

"Is everything alright?" he asked instead.

Ochako cast her eyes around them, to the Tarlson soldiers, their new companions and especially the new mages. Her shoulder slumped forward and she tensed all the way through, fists clenching on the reins as her voice came back in a whisper.

"Of course, it isn't," she ground her teeth, "Everything about this is terrifying and wrong and I...I just wish I wasn't leaving Landsleave right now."

"I'm sorry…"

Brown eyes swept back to the forest and her voice faltered. "I know I was the one demanding that he stay, but every time I look at those trees, this forest where he's lived for so long, I keep expecting to see him. Just a gush of wind or a glimpse of red. And every time I don't see it my heart hurts and then I remember how much worse it would be if I did see him."

Izuku twisted his mouth at the pain in her words. Forcing down the tirade in his heart and mind that screamed of his years of Magesterium formation and affections he was not yet used to sharing, he reached the short distance between their horses and took her hand in his. He wasn't sure there was anything he could say to make this situation easier for her, but she and Eijiro seemed to communicate best through touch and he found he really liked it too, so he hoped it would relay the sympathy and comfort he wanted her to feel.

To his surprise she took his grip with vigor, still not looking away from the treeline, but sighing heavily, shoulders slumping with a heavier weight than just the loneliness of missing her friend. He could only imagine what she was feeling, what guilt and regret was plaguing her mind. She didn't deserve a word of it, but he knew he would feel the same in her position.

He already had plenty regrets of his own. What really would have changed if he had acted differently? Would all of this have happened the same if he and Yo had not come in hunt of Ochako? Would it have made a difference in the amount of deaths that followed if Izuku had not drawn Ochako and Eijiro away from their village to find him the help of the Bogmages?

It was all irrelevant. What was done had already been concluded. Now was the battle for survival and keeping Ochako safe. The deaths couldn't be changed.

"Are you going to be okay without him?" Izuku whispered softly.

"I'm fine," she rolled her eyes, "I just don't know what he'll do without me there. We haven't been separated since we found each other. He's lived among humans for a long time, but he isn't perfect at blending in. He still has his instinct and his habits and I worry about him."

Izuku smiled fondly to think about the young dragon. It was hard to even imagine a reptile, a creature known most for its destructive power and viciousness, having such a smile and such a heart, but he'd met the very creature. He'd already seen him give way to sentiment over practicality more times than a dragon ever should. Both he and Ochako were alive because of it. It was easy to worry about him. His big heart made him do incredibly stupid things.

The horses ahead of them pulled suddenly to a halt, beginning with Commander Tensei's, his hand snapping into the air to draw the party behind him to a stop. There was a twisted look on his face and he looked around himself, suspicions in his eyes and senses alight to pick up on the slightest disturbance.

It put the people behind him into a state of confusion, looking between each other and then to the Commander. Shoto, though, had a far less confused and far more unhappy look across his face like something had crawled up his spine and then twisted his ear.

"What is it?" Captain Katsuki tried to follow Commander Tensei's gaze.

Before he had the chance to answer the air around them swirled and gusted past, like a miniature gale had swept through in one burst and then dispersed. The horses startled and threw the party into a mess as a brief shadow overtook them and then vanished.

The shouting and fight to calm the spooked animals were all too distracting and all Izuku had the chance to see was a blur in the corner of his eye before there was a crash beyond the line of the forest's edge.

"What's happening?" one of the Tarlson soldiers yelled, "Is it Demons?"

"Everyone hold your ground!" barked Commander Tensei over the chittering animals. He brought his steed easily back under control and directed the horse to carry him along the steadily calming line of the company. He jabbed a finger at the two at the back of the party and motioned them to follow him.

"Commander, I should go with you," Shoto demanded.

"I said hold your ground," the Command spoke with no patience, eyeing both Shoto and Katsuki pointedly, "If it really is a demon feel free to run to our rescue, but I don't think that's what happening, it would be doing far worse than blowing a little wind at us were it a Tempest."

Shoto's knuckles were turning white on his reins and suspicion twisted in Izuku's gut. What did he know about this?

Captain Katsuki seemed annoyed by it too, but not so apprehensive as Shoto. The only reason he stayed where he was was the firm grip of the older woman to his right grabbing his shoulder and demanding his cooperation.

Leading his men to the forest's edge, Commander Tensei ordered them to dismount. They looped the reins around stray branches and drew their swords, passing through the treeline with caution.

"Apprentice…" Ochako swallowed hard, anxious down to her core, grabbing Izuku's arm.

"What?" he looked her up and down.

Ochako took full stock of what was happening around her. Kyoka still sat very close and the elves were not far from their backs. Having come to a stop, the whole party had seemed to creep closer than before, huddling together to see what would happen. She was right to determine that she was not able to speak freely, so instead she hardened her expression and looked between Izuku and Shoto, trying to speak with her eyes alone.

It offered no clarity and Izuku found himself only more confused than before.

After passing a quick word to Nana, Shoto started dismounting and the Captain began to follow that older woman moved her horse over to the remaining soldiers that had taken the front of their line and began engaging them in active conversation; a distraction.

Izuku took the opportunity as he saw it and dropped down the side of his horse. Ochako moved to follow, but he held up a hand to her, shaking his head. The anger in her eyes could have cut him, but he knew how easily she could blow her own cover, especially if she was angry, and he wordlessly demanded that she stay where she was.

The taller mage's cold eyes were on the treeline when Izuku approached him. The other Tarlson soldiers watched them closely despite Nana trying to keep their attention, but they weren't too close for Izuku to feel that he could at least whisper.

"Do you know what's happening?"

Shoto nodded and his apprehension shifted to a sour twist in his lip.

"I need you to keep Ochako calm," Shoto's fists clenched, "If he listens to me he'll be fine, but it won't help if Ochako is making a scene."

It felt like Izuku should be offended for Ochako, but he still had so little idea what was happening that he just scowled at the ground and shook his head at his once fellow student, now fraudulent Master.

"What are you talking about, why would Ochako make a scene?"

There was a long delay on a response, Shoto's eyes on the trees and his head tilting this way and that, as though whatever was happening in his head was far more engaging than what Izuku was saying.

"Get back to your mount, mage," Katsuki moved to the other side of Shoto, snapping at Izuku viciously, "We don't need you making our already tentative position any shakier."

"Not until I know what's going on," Izuku glared back at him, something irrational springing to life the moment the Captain opened his mouth.

"_I_ don't even know what's happening!" Katsuki countered.

"Both of you be quiet," Shoto hissed and shook his head like he was pushing out shivers. He looked back at the Tarlson soldiers with Nana and then long and hard over their other companions still tense and muttering to themselves over what was going on.

"Shoto," Izuku whispered again, "How do you know what's happening?"

Blue and gray eyes fixed Izuku, almost accusingly, but not so severely that he took it seriously.

"He's not very subtle, Izuku. I don't care how high he was flying, he was going to be spotted."

It clicked and Izuku grimaced. "Damn it, Eijiro."

"What?" Katsuki's perpetually fractured patience was slipping.

"He thinks so loudly," Shoto rubbed the side of his head.

It was Izuku's turn to be wildly confused. "What?"

"I told him to go into the forest and hide, but he didn't go far enough out," Shoto's frustration was clear.

That cleared up nothing for Izuku or Katsuki, but Shoto's eyes stayed fixed on the forest, like his mind was somewhere else entirely. Izuku considered himself patient, but even he was starting to lose his sanity over this. Katsuki was already past that.

"I swear on my mother's fucking grave, mage, if you don't give me a real fucking answer in three seconds-"

"It's the young man who was talking to Ochako's father at Landsleave," Shoto clarified.

Katsuki's arms opened, only getting angrier, though that seemed easy for him. "What's he doing here?"

"Not listening," Shoto groaned and then gave Izuku a brief nod, "Don't worry, I know everything. They won't find a dragon."

"There's a dragon?" Katsuki said far louder than he should.

"Not so loud, Captain!" Izuku whispered sharply and then grabbed Shoto's sleeve with a twisted hand, "How do you know he'll be human when they find him?"

"I told him to," Shoto shrugged, "I'd rather them find a human than a dragon."

"How did you tell him to-?"

There was no time to further burn Shoto with questions. There was movement in the treeline and time for talking about it was over.

They hadn't even completely revealed themselves before Ochako was out of her saddle. A single shove from Shoto told Izuku to handle it and the green eyed mage rushed back to the girl.

There was a lump lodged in his throat as he grabbed Ochako's arm and forced her to stand her ground. He could feel the tension in her body and felt the touch of ether that swirled to life when a mage was preparing to cast a spell.

"Ochako, please…"

All of their fears burst to life in front of their eyes when out of the forest stumbled first a head of bright red hair above a haphazardly thrown on cloak and then two sword points following him. Both Tarlson soldiers had trained weapons on what they had found even though his hands were tied in front of him. Tensei had him by the arm and was pulling him towards their compan with a keen eye fixed on Shoto.

The curses that streamed from Ochako's lips made her sound more like the Captain than herself, but her breath caught in her throat when Eijiro tossed a grimace towards her.

"Master Shoto," Commander Tensei's voice drew everyone in as he shoved the boy down in front of the calm disposition of the mage.

Shoto revealed nothing, gave no change in expression as Eijiro hit his knees and the Commander tightly fisted the shoulder of the cloak to hold him there. Captain Katsuki didn't look half as calm, his expression almost exasperated as he looked between the two leaders and the new prisoner who was turning a bashful grin up at Shoto.

"This boy says he's one of yours," Commander Tensei tilted his head at Shoto, "Care to explain that."

Izuku would have slammed his face right into his palm if it wouldn't have seemed so incredibly suspicious. Ochako wasn't as subtle, though and shook where she stood, grabbing at Izuku's robe with a force that said she was doing everything in her power not to start a fight.

Behind them questions passed around the elves and Kyoka, mostly along the lines of, "I don't remember inviting him".

Despite everyone else's surprise, Shoto spoke smoothly, unphased. "He is."

"See!" Eijiro tried to open his hands up at the Commander, but the tight rope restricted the motion, "I told you."

Commander Tensei hit him with a sharp glare and it knocked the smile right off of Eijiro's face. "Then perhaps you can explain why we found one of your men that you had not previously disclosed to us, naked as the day he was born in the middle of the forest. Obviously he was following us, but I'd like to know why and moreover, why we found him in this state."

"I tasked him to trail us," Shoto remained cool, but took a longer look at the fact that the only thing Eijiro was wearing was a cloak taken from one of the Tarlson soldiers, "I have my issues with trust too, Commander. We needed someone who could report on our whereabouts to the Synod if something was to happen to us."

The Commander's eyebrow went up as he stared down at the boy. His hand moved from Eijiro's shoulder and took a fistful of hair, pulling his head back for him to look at him a little better at his face. His expression said he wasn't impressed with what he was seeing.

"Ow." Eijiro said blandly at the pull on his scalp.

"A bit young to be a scout, isn't he?"

Captain Katsuki scoffed, arms crossing. "We start training kids half his age to be soldiers in Dawnfell. Of all things, that isn't the unbelievable part, Commander."

"And I'm not _that_ young," Eijiro rolled his eyes.

Ochako muttered frustration, hardly eased that Shoto was claiming him as part of their party and in an equal amount of surprise that the Captain had played along at all.

"Doesn't explain where his clothes went," one of the soldiers raised an eyebrow at the other.

Shoto was at a loss to explain that part, it seemed. And rightly so. Even if he'd somehow communicated this plan to Eijiro, how was Shoto to know that they'd find him without clothes? It wasn't something Izuku would have considered if he hadn't seen him shapeshift the very same day he'd met him.

While their leaders stuttered over an explanation and Eijiro grimaced at his own lack of explanation, Ochako wrenched free from Izuku's hold.

"Ochako!" he snapped, but she was already out of his reach.

He moved to chase, but faltered when he saw he stop, standing tall, shoulders squared at Shoto's side and saying the last thing he expected her to.

"He was trained as a shapeshifter," Ochako said, practically casting a spell of silence on everyone, including Eijiro who quirked a curious eyebrow up at her, even as his head strained under Commander Tensei's continued grip.

"Shapeshifting?" The Commander blinked, "I've never known a mage who had that particular ability."

"Well he does," she nodded, "It's what makes him a perfect scout. He can be a bird, a wolf, or anything he needs to be. But clothes don't shift with flesh, he has to shed them to take on his new forms."

Commander Tensei hummed in thought, eyeing the boy who had started pulling a pleading grin up at him again. He then looked to each mage and Katsuki in a brief question.

Shoto nodded concurrence with Ochako's story and the Commander's stance relaxed some. He gave a head motion towards the soldiers at their backs and both sheathed their weapons immediately.

"Mages will never cease to surprise me," the Commander sighed and roughly released the fistful of red hair, "In the future you would do well not to keep men hidden from me, Master Shoto. We may not be Dawnfelden," there was an almost bitter lilt and a sneer towards Katsuki on those words, "but our Tarlson senses are keen too. You're lucky we didn't kill him on sight."

Grabbing Eijiro by the arm and pulling him back up to his feet, Shoto started to untie the ropes around his wrists as he answered the Commander. "I apologize for hiding anything from you. As we have said before, the nature of our mission contains much secrecy. You'll forgive me for wanting to apply some contingencies."

"I understand it, Master Shoto," Commander Tensei continued to eye Eijiro with suspicion, "I don't have to like it, though."

Izuku felt as though his legs might buckle under him. Ochako barely looked any better, her hands shaking as she helped Shoto take off the wrist binding before pulling Eijiro to stand behind her protectively.

"Hey, mage," Denki leaned down towards Izuku in a whisper, "That's the guy from the village, isn't he? Ochako's friend?"

He nodded up to Denki and Mina leaned in too, a wry grin on her lips.

"Why is he actually naked though?"

Izuku was thrown off and he flushed over at the insinuating tone.

"Keep it in your pants," Kyoka rolled her eyes, "Besides, it looks like he's already been claimed."

"Has that ever stopped me?" she pumped her eyebrows at her friend and she got a punch in the arm from Denki.

Not liking the direction of this conversation, Izuku shook it off and moved away from them towards where Eirjio and the group leaders were gathered, tuning back into what Commander Tensei was saying as he approached.

"I'm not about to let you send your spy back to your sordid business and out of my sight," Tensei hissed, "He'll stay with this company until the Lord Commander has agreed that you are _all_ free to go on your way. You may not be eager to trust us, but we have less reason to spare that same courtesy to you."

Katsuki muttered more curses, but responded evenly before Shoto could try to argue further.

"Fine then. No one trusts each other, who cares? The longer we argue about this the longer it will take for us to get back on mission. Let's just get moving so we can get this over with."

Shoto shot hot air from his nose, but nodded agreement.

The frustration ebbing off of Ochako was tangible and the way she was holding onto Eijiro's wrist looked like it must have hurt. He didn't show it if it did, just stood quiet at her side, chewing his cheek, perhaps coming to realize the amount of trouble he had caused by following them.

The Tarlson soldiers went back to the treeline and retrieved the horses as the Commander directed everyone to prepare to travel again. The group started mustering and in the jumble Izuku came up to Ochako and Eijiro, putting a hand to Eijiro's arm with a question on his lip. Ochako was in the same motion while he did, mid-breath in a berating whisper towards the dragon turned man.

Any idea of speaking was cut off by the looming presence of a horse stopping in front of them and a leering, cold red gaze biting sharply down at them from the saddle. The Captain's hand was in his saddlebag and suddenly a bundle of cloth was colliding into Eijiro's face.

It took them all by surprise as the boy stumbled to grab it and look over what he'd caught to who had thrown it. Wide red eyes met sharp, narrow ones, each representing quite the opposite natures of the color they shared.

"Put on some damn clothes, kid," Captain Katsuki bit with a huff.

That was all he said before promptly turned his horse back to the front of the party to join back up with Nana and Shoto.

The mages blinked after him in confusion as Eijiro unfurled it and found some dusty breaches and a loose shirt. It was not quite his size, a bit big perhaps, but it was more than manageable considering there was only a light cloak between him and bare skin.

"Wow," Eijiro grinned and immediately started pulling the pants on under the cover of the cloak.

"I don't like that man," Ochako grumbled after Katsuki and physically shivered.

Izuku's face twisted after him, uncertain himself how he felt about the unpleasant man who'd just done something helpful and possibly nice, but had also had a sword in his face earlier that same day. He just hoped that they wouldn't be stuck with this group and whatever it was that Shoto had gotten himself involved in long enough to figure out how he felt about any of them.

Thus all he could do is shrug at Ochako's comment while Eijiro smiled and dropped the cloak behind him to slide the shirt over his head. "Doesn't seem so bad to me."

Izuku grabbed the cloak from the ground and tossed it up to the Tarlson soldier it had been taken from as he passed by them towards the back of the line once again. The horses were starting to move forward again. Kyoka led Izuku and Ochako's steeds towards their riders, the elves trailing at her back.

"As long as you're stuck with us, don't start thinking nice about any of these people," Izuku whispered through grit teeth even as he smiled at Kyoka's approach, "I only know Shoto...and he's not exactly the person I knew at the Magesterium anymore either. I trust him, but we all have to be wary. It's way too dangerous for you to be here."

Eijiro finished fixing his shirt and shook his head, "I'll be fine. I don't have to change back at all if I don't want to. I can be a convincing human."

They were drawn back to how pissed off Ochako was, by the back of her hand hitting his arm.

"You are not a convincing human!" Her whisper was so sharp it was practically a hiss, "What is wrong with you, are you trying to get yourself killed? I thought you were going to stay in Landsleave!"

"Hey!" Izuku snapped, because Kyoka was now upon them and dropping their reins to them.

She eyed the newcomer as the elves pulled up at her back, trying to get a better look. Three sets of inspecting eyes surveyed them while Ochako and Izuku took their horses and quietly mounted up

"Eijiro, wasn't it?" Kyoka raised an eyebrow at the boy clumsily getting himself into a saddle like he'd never been on a horse before.

Izuku half choked. Had Eijiro never ridden a horse before? Why would he have, after all? He could fly anywhere he wanted to and horses were usually much smaller than him. To him it must be like a person shrinking down to the size of a mouse and then riding a dog.

Ochako got into the saddle just behind Eijiro and hunkered in close despite her still apparent frustration with him. He clung on for dear life and grabbed onto Ochako's leg while the horse started to walk and she tried to handle the reins around him.

"Huh?" Eijiro shook his head, pulling himself from his fearful distraction to answer Kyoka, "Um, yes. You were all at Landsleave with the mage."

"That's right," Mina pulled up beside them and Ochako gave her an ugly look, "So where'd your clothes go?"

"Mina, I swear to-"

"I took them off," Eijiro shrugged, the subject of modesty seeming less concerning to him than the predicament of suddenly having to ride a horse.

"Why?" Denki propped himself in his stirrups, apparently as curious as Mina, though less overtly uncouth.

"Otherwise I would have ruined them when I-"

"Red," Ochako snapped and his mouth clamped shut.

The mage girl looked them all over harshly and then adjusted the reins to move her horse through the formation to the other side of Izuku. Now on the outside of the group to where only Izuku could hear their whispering.

"Sorry," Eijiro whispered, "Wasn't thinking."

Ochako sighed long and deep and her forehead hit his shoulder. "Dammit Red, when are you ever? I told you to stay…"

"Well, I didn't," he scowled, "I thought I could just fly high overhead and keep an eye on you at least, but then apparently the mage heard what I was saying again and he spotted me easily."

"Shoto heard you from up there?" Izuku looked up towards the clouds.

"No, in here," Eijiro tapped the side of his head and his scowl disappeared into a grin, "Oh right! I didn't get to tell you! Your mage friend hears me! No one has ever heard me! I barely remember ever hearing the voice of another dragon even as a hatchling and somehow he can! Isn't that amazing?"

So that was what Shoto was talking about. And Eijiro was right, it was amazing. And confusing.

"But how?"

Ochako shook her head, "I don't know, he doesn't seem to know either. If anything I thought you might have an explanation. He says he isn't a dragon so I don't know what else it could be unless he's lying."

The sound of Kyoka's lute tuning back up masked their conversation and cut them off from the muttered annoyance of the elves.

"He's not that," Izuku cocked his head down the line at Shoto, "I've known him for years and I can guarantee he's human."

"Either way, he probably saved your life," Ochako chided, "If all it took was an inkling to look up to see you, the Keep's defenses might have harpooned you and shredded you by the time we got there. Stealth is not the game of a bright red beast the size of a building!"

"I get it, I get it," Eijiro sighed, "I'm not good at passing as a human or being a dragon. I'm sorry. It was stupid to come after you, but I was scared…"

"Red," Ochako's voice dropped to defeated sympathy, "That's not what I'm saying… I just want you to listen to me when I tell you to do something. We're alive this long because we acted smart...because you listened to me. When I tell you to stay, you stay."

Eijiro's grip tightened as the horse shifted under him.

"I haven't been alone since before you found me," Eijiro said softly, "What was I going to do if you didn't come back? I can't be alone again, Ochako, I can't do it."

"You weren't alone," Ochako rolled her eyes, "I told you to stay with my parents. You had them. You had all of our friends in Landsleave."

Izuku's eyes were fixed to the sad, darkening look growing on Eijiro's face and felt his chest twist up.

"It felt alone."

"And what about my folks? You were supposed to protect them."

"The soldiers are staying there," Eijiro shrugged, "They're protected. You're the one who's surrounded by danger."

"And now you are too," Ochako groaned.

"Eijiro, Ochako." Izuku cut in softly. Both looked over to him, expectantly. "What's done is done and we can't change that now. For better or worse he's here and we have to work around that. Luckily Shoto is quick on his feet, but we have to keep playing along until we're through this. So let's look at the brightside, huh?"

Eijiro smiled. "I like the brightside."

Ochako gave Izuku an incredulous look. "And what _is_ it, apprentice?"

"We're together again, aren't we?" Izuku smiled down at his hands, "After this I may never see either of you again so, at least for me, it's nice to know we can all still be together as friends for a while longer."

There was a blush turned into Eijiro's shoulder, but the boy grinned wide. "That's a good brightside, right Ochako?"

Her head lifted, revealing the pink in her cheeks.

"Thanks, apprentice," she hummed, "You're right. But that doesn't mean I'm not still yelling at you later, Red."

That was as close to making up and settling down as they were going to get, because the conversation practically ended there. A lilting strum grabbed Eijiro's attention on a single note and he quickly got brave enough to lean on the horse to look around Izuku at what had made that sound. Izuku slowed his horse a little to allow Eijiro a better view, smiling that Kyoka was preparing to begin another song.

One of the soldiers at the back of the party called up with a cheerful voice. "Do you know the one called, _Brown Eyed Girl Back Home_?"

"What do you take me for, an amateur?" she smiled back at the soldier and started looking for the correct notes on the strings.

"Thought you were a military aid actually," the other soldier laughed.

Izuku flinched, thinking that perhaps they had seen past the ruse, but Kyoka took it in stride with a shrug. "I'm a woman of many talents."

It was hard to stay focussed on the bigger issues and speak further with his friends about what had happened when a cheerful sound bounced from Kyoka's strings. Smiles spread around the back two lines of horses and a grin could be spotted pulling the corner of Nana's mouth too. The same could not be said for their supposed leaders. They were stone faced; Shoto deep in his own mind and Katsuki looking more ready to break the lute than sing along.

While Eijiro got wrapped up in the song, Ochako's expression fell back into distaste, not distracted by the music like the rest of them. She didn't interrupt or try to keep them from enjoying themselves, but her eyes remained distant and the arm she'd looped around Eijiro's waist held tight. She hadn't wanted him there, obviously, but now that he was here there was one apparent thought on her face; a protective thought. It said she had to protect him in much the same way he had ignored all warnings to follow after and try to protect her.

It was hard to tell if they were a beautiful example of two creatures who cared deeply about each other or if they were entirely dysfunctional in their codependence, but Izuku couldn't help envying it. It was something he could never have and, even if the idea of someone acting like a fool over his wellbeing was more stressful than endearing, he felt the pull of desiring a thing just for the sake of knowing it was impossible.

But he had been the one to say, "look at the brightside", hadn't he? They had something he could never; not with them, nor with another mage nor any living person or animal. But they were still here now. All that could be done was make the most of it like he'd said.

The soldiers picked up singing at the chorus and a strangely pleasant aura dropped over the group that was riding away from a brutal battle to an uncertain future. Even the elves tried to join in, though they didn't really know the words. Eijiro and Izuku didn't try, just watched and listened.

They made the most of it.


	15. Loyalty of Spirit and Oath

A/N: Howdy. Sorry for very infrequent updates. I honestly only get to do any writing between 7-8 in the morning during the week and its really not long enough to get much done at once, especially when I revise as much as I do. lol! But I really appreciate those who are interested in continuing to follow this story despite the inconsistent updates! Know I appreciate all of you deeply and hope to continue feeling your incredible support!

They came upon the Keep at sundown and never before had a sunset seemed so intimidating. The famed, impenetrable walls of the Tarlson Keep blocked half the sun and silhouetted the orange sky inspires, artillery, and blue flags, whipping the symbol of a torch in the wind. The dark stone told of its many years of standing unmoved and it's almost unending length told that what lay behind was far more than just a fortress or castle.

The gates opened easily to Commander Tensei and even the entryway left the party in awe, Captain Katsuki especially. Shoto watched the Captain's eyes scour every inch of fortification and assess every defense in intrinsic detail, marveling with jealousy and respect in his glances. There was no wonder left why Tarlson was considered the second strongest Lordship in Gaetha.

Within the gates was more city than Shoto ever expected. Dawnsend was built similarly, a city within walls and a Keep at its center, but this was nothing like Dawnsend. There was a rural feel to Dawnsend, a feeling throughout all of Dawnfell really, that appearances were second to strength, but in Tarlson the power of image seemed stronger than the muscle in his very arms. It stood to advertise its prowess, nothing false about the pristine persona it put forward.

The Keep itself was so deep within the city that it did not stand out at first. There were small plots of land in the first quarter of the walled city, grassland for livestock and orchards for growing an absolute abundance of fruit. Past that were the trades that kept the city running, blacksmithery, armories, leather tanners, cobblers, dressmakers, tailors, inns, pubs, general stores, and much more than Shoto was able to keep up with. And then further still inward was the barracks, the training ground for the Keep's standing army, and then the Keep itself, with even more city far behind as extensive as the city before it.

As they came to the livery and dismounted, turning over their horses to the stablehands and taking their belongings, Shoto got a twisting feeling. The longer he looked over the magnificence of the grand pride of Tarlson the more a sense of spite rose.

Try as he might to accept where he was and what had led him here and what his presence might change in this war, he was still bitter that he, a freshly trained mage without even an apprenticeship had been dropped into the slop and horror of Dawnfell's front, of the battlefields of Demon's Rise rather than a place of strength and sophistication like this. He wanted to be a part of the High Council and to be at the Center Magesterium first and foremost, but if they couldn't give him that, then why not something like this? A place more fitted for him.

But the past was unchangeable and his spite could not persist. They had work to do here and now and if he was ever to come out of this alive and in any good graces of the Synod then perhaps he could argue to be assigned here instead. But then he may be stripped and reconditioned if he survived this anyway and then would he even remember that he wanted to be here?

Another unattainable dream for another time.

"Please come with me," Commander Tensei guided them into the side entrance of the keep.

His men remained in a flanking position of the party. They didn't seem wary of the strangers any longer, but were forced to remain cautious at Commander Tensei's order.

The Keep was as magnificent inside as out, muttered gasps trailing behind Shoto, Katsuki, and Tensei as their companions took it in. There was some momentary worry that their wonder and excitement might cause someone to slip up in their cover, but luckily Tensei separated the appointed leaders from the rest of their party before taking them to speak to the Lord Commander, only requiring Shoto and Katsuki for this meeting.

Hesitating at first, Shoto spared a look to Nana, knowing he wanted at least her there, but also knowing that there was very little Renegade Mage could do to aid their ruse as she knew very little about the inner workings of the Synod or of Dawnfell's government, which they were all claimed to be part of. She did offer him an encouraging smile and a nod before taking instant charge of the others. They could at least be assured she would keep them in line. Even if the elves didn't already have a healthy fear of her, she had already proven herself an apt mediatrix and to have the sort of voice Shoto expected a scolding mother might have. They would do fine on their own.

The Keep's Council Chambers were already occupied by a group of uniformed men in scattered formation around a wide table when they entered. A large map was stitched down to the surface and on its sides were pieces made for directing strategy, a war table not in active use in this particular meeting.

All of the uniformed men had their attention on one man, perhaps five years Shotoi's senior. His uniform was more decorated than theirs and the trim of his cloak was lined in the white fur of a glorified Lord Commander. Shoto recalled the same sort of cloak hanging from the back of Lord Commander Kan's chair at the encampment, but rarely recalled seeing him in it. It looked to be cumbersome in battle; a show piece, not a practical garment for leading an army on the field of battle.

The Lord Commander had hair like a fresh snow storm had doused his head, white to the tips, but not in the way an old man's might. His face was the picture of youth and his body was built tall and strong for the battlefield, the only agedness about him the very chilling, cutting sharpness in his gray eyes.

The young Lord of Tarlson lifted his chin at the newcomers when they entered and a tight lipped scrutiny overcame his slender mouth.

"Lord Commander I-" A swift hand cut Commander Tensei' words in half as the Lord Commander scowled at the interruption and immediately continued in what he was saying to the men around the table.

Tensei took it in stride and took a step back, head nodding in respect to the curt reaction that could easily have been considered quite rude.

"If you want to take this lightly, Captain, then you have no place serving Tarlson," he bit the air as the face of the military leader he spoke to turned red with frustration, "While you spare your men, the Lordship suffers for your cowardice."

The man he was addressing was passing glances to the new faces with discomfort, embarrassed at the audience to his beratement.

"It is not cowardice to be cautious, my Lord," the Captain bit his cheek and then dropped his head, "With all due respect… You cannot send us out there without Battle Mages. I can march my men to fight minor demons endlessly, but if we are to face a Major Demon our presence will do little other than add to the pile of corpses."

A collective flinch went through the room, when the Lord Commander's fist impacted the table.

"Then speak to Kiego and get your damn Battle Mages," he barked, "Say what you mean and you'll get what you damn well need. This wasn't a question of me withholding resources, but of you casting aspersions on my orders. Mind your tongue in these chambers, Captain. If I order you to protect our borders you will go with or without mages at your side."

The entire top half of the Captain dropped in a bow, an act of apology and humility towards his admonishment. "Yes, my Lord."

The Lord Commander turned a look over each of them, reiterating that his statement went for all of them and then waved a hand to the door. "You have your assignments, now get out of my sight before I demote all of you and promote the court jester to do your jobs."

With a chorus of, "As you wish, my Lord!" they all bowed and made their exit in file, sparing curious looks to the mage and the Dawnfelden Captain in the entryway.

Commander Tensei stepped forward now, the Lord Commander still leaning his fists into the table, frowning down at the map as though he had forgotten them.

"My Lord-"

"Forgive my rudeness, Tensei," the Lord Commander straightened, turning a composed expression to the dark haired Commander as though an entirely different man had stepped into his shoes, "Your entrance was ill timed, my friend."

"Then forgive my intrusion," Commander Tensei nodded, "We returned as soon as we got your message and I was unaware that you were in the middle of a meeting."

Tensei stepped to the side and opened an arm back towards the cross armed Captain and the straight backed mage.

The Lord Commander looked them over closely while Tensei spoke. "This is Lord Commander Natsuo Todoroki, the son of Lord Enji, heir to Tarlson. This is Master Shoto and Captain Katsuki Bakugou, the leaders of those who defended Landsleave."

"You are a Dawnfelden Captain?" Lord Natsuo tilted his head slightly at Katsuki.

The Captain tightened his arms and gave a tight nod, "That's why I have this uniform."

"I know of you," Lord Commander Natsuo scowled, leaning his hip into the table as he sized up the Captain, "Some say you single handedly ended the Southern Uprising in Dawnfell. An impressive tale even if it's embellished."

"Reports are usually exaggerated," Katsuki shrugged one shoulder, but there was a hint of pride in it, "Usually."

The Lord Commander hummed, somewhat amused and then tilted a curious glare over Shoto.

"You, I'm not familiar with," he said and Shoto got a shiver down his spine at the look, "Which is strange. I feel I would have heard tell of a Master so young. Our own Headmaster Keigo is well known for just such a thing."

"It's not the business of a true mage to be renowned," Shoto leaned into the opposite stance of Katsuki, humility over pride, "I do not live for laymen to know me."

A tiny smirk hit the corner of Lord Natsuo's mouth. "I'll take that as an insult to Keigo then. In any case, do enlighten me. The message I received from Tensei told that you and your mages brought down two Major Demons on your own. A mage capable of that is worth knowing."

It was hard to control the need to shift uncomfortably at the questioning. The truth was that he and three others combined had barely defeated one while the other was destroyed by Blood Magic and the strength of one Renegade Mage. He had lied a lot over this last week, but it was still not his strong suit or something he enjoyed doing. It was best to remain vague and outwardly humble to avoid too much questioning.

"I am no one of consequence," was his simple, satisfying answer.

Natuso's eyebrow was raised on the younger man with the high held head and Master's robes.

"Are you going to tell us why you brought us here or are we going to talk about how inconsequential Shoto is?" Katsuki cut in to end the curious stares and introductions.

The corner of Natsuo's mouth twitched like it had been pricked with a needle. Cold gray eyes fell on Katsuki, but the Captain was unimpressed.

Commander Tensei crossed his arms, standing a step behind Natsuo. "Is it common in Dawnfell for large groups of powerful people to pass through and fight your battles without question?"

Tensei looked around the Lord to the Captain who responded with a "tch" sound and an eyeroll.

"I didn't think so."

"The Synod and their people pass in and out of Tarlson daily and we do not question their every action," Natsuo opened a hand to the air, "If any Lordship did, that would be all we ever had time for. But a delegate from another Lordship doesn't come into my home without me knowing about it. The borderguard sent a messenger bird ahead of you to inform me of your arrival. They said you were sent under orders from Lord Sorahiko, but your mission is from the Synod… Seems rather contrary doesn't it?"

"The Dawnfelden delegate is assisting the Synod, what's so strange about that?" Shoto frowned, "It's nothing more than the civic duty of any Lordship to keep the symbiosis of our cultures."

Natsuo shrugged and tilted his eyes downward towards Katsuki. "There's nothing practically strange about it were you from any other Lordship, but I've never known Dawnfelden's to be cooperative in any issue that didn't pertain directly to them. They have their Griffin Cohort and the famed Dawnfelden Army and the idea that they are the ultimate authority on all things regarding Summonings. Maybe during peacetime I could see a Dawnfelden cooperating with the Synod under dire circumstances, but amidst a Summoning… Well, I assumed Dawnfell would have greater things to worry about. Don't you have a border to be protecting, Dawnfelden Captain or have you really abandoned your post?"

The look he gave Katsuki was petty and a bit smug and the way Katsuki was biting the inner corner of his mouth looked hard enough to draw blood. Shoto watched closely for the tension in his arms to snap.

"You said it yourself," Shoto defended, "He has orders from his own Lord to be here-"

"You know damn well there's no post left to abandon," Katsuki cut in sharply, "Your messengers move fast and your army has reached the fronts by now. Say what you mean and stop playing gracious host, it's obviously a damn lie!"

Commander Tensei flinched and Natsuo took on a deep scowl as he turned from Katsuki and began to move slowly around the table, eyes on the table as the superior look he had worn died away to severity. Following the direction of his gaze, Shoto found himself staring hard at the detailed image of Dawnfell's shared border with Demon's Rise and felt bile rise in his throat at the sight.

Natsuo grabbed a piece in the shape of a blue torch and set it on Dawnfell and then took two red griffin shaped pieces and placed them just beyond it at the fronts.

"I have a dual purpose in wanting to speak to you, yes," Natsuo admitted coarsely, "Per the last message I received from the reinforcements we sent our men just arrived at Demon's Rise and found a disturbing sight there. They had yet to send a delegate to Dawnsend to speak to Lord Sorahiko about it at the writing of the message so I have yet to hear an explanation and would be very interested in knowing what you can tell me about this, Captain Katsuki, the famed second to Lord Commander Kan, leader of the very same army that is meant to be stationed where my men arrived."

His gray eyes looked silver in the glint of sunlight that beamed through and they felt as sharp as steel. Shoto could feel Katsuki bristle, and felt himself cringe in fear. Not a minute in the Lord Commander's presence and he had already found a massive hole in their tale before they had even told it.

The Lord Commander continued before they could speak on it to defend, though, Natsuo's fingers running along the space between the pieces as he went on, "A chasm stands between my armies and the fronts and a barrier of pure magic cuts right through it. On the other side they see the undead meander and minor demons approach the barrier only to shirk away shrieking in pain and horror. My own men fear to touch it. Little can be seen of what lay beyond it, but the rubble of an encampment is still there and the host of corpses cannot be mistaken as anything but the Dawnfelden army."

Shoto's stomach had dropped to his feet while a small flutter hit his chest; at least they had confirmation that Nana's barrier was still standing.

Natsuo knocked over both of the griffin pieces. "My men are no long reinforcements, but the very army itself. The mages in their company and those sent directly from the Synod that met them there are unable to affect the barrier with their spells. The enemy itself fears the thing."

The Lord Commander straightened, hand clenching at his side.

"So tell me, Dawnfelden Captain," Natsuo jaw clenched, "What the hell happened there?"

Katsuki had been uncharacteristically quiet amidst the very accusing words and Shoto expected it was leading up to a virtual explosion of rage. He even leaned away from the Captain in anticipation, but the tension remained trapped inside Katsuki like an ever tightening coil until he finally spoke, not brutal or cruel, but cold and bitter.

"It's the work of Blood Magic."

All blood left Shoto's face as a spin of nausea overwhelmed his gut. He could believe his own ears. He was certain Katsuki was the one he didn't have to worry about revealing something he shouldn't and he had just willingly pointed to Blood Magic to explain what had happened at Demon's Rise.

"Blood magic?" Commander Tensei repeated.

That's when Shoto noticed the equally ill look on Natsuo's face, but it was more than just disgust; spite, even hatred accompanied it.

"Explain," Natsuo froze the very air with his tongue.

"It's not-"

A hand to his chest silenced Shoto and a glare told him that his input was not needed. The young mage didn't like that at all, but Katsuki continued before Shoto got a chance to disrupt him.

"We waited for your reinforcements, but were left in the lurch," Katsuki bared his teeth at Natsuo, "We shouldn't have lived to even send that damn request when we did. By the final battle we had only one Battle Mage left and had gone from ten thousand strong to a dwindling thousand terror stricken boys."

"Is that an accusation?" Natsuo leaned his fists to the table.

"No, I'm painting a picture so you can understand how fucked we were," Katsuki matched the pose, red eyes locked onto those cold grays, "Just so maybe you'll understand why weren't able or willing to stop a Blood Mage from draining our dead and making rifts in the earth to spare what was left of Dawnfell from what's beyond it."

"You allowed a Blood Mage to run rampant through your ranks?" Commander Tensei gasped, horrified.

"He was our prisoner," Katsuki clarified and Shoto frowned at the slight misinformation. The best lies held a degree of truth, much like his lie about Eijiro earlier, so he began to understand Katsuki's tactic. There was part of this that the Lord needed to know and parts he could never. The Captain was carefully presenting the information.

"Our Battle Mages were all dead… I vied to execute him, but Lord Commander Kan wanted to follow the rules and leave him for the Synod to deal with."

"That's idiotic," Natsuo spat and pushed away from the table to cross his arms, "He should never have been given the chance to even catch his breath. Your Lord Commander was a fool."

Fire lit in Katsuki's eyes. "Show some fucking respect for the dead or I'll damn well make you!"

Natsuo didn't move, his entire demeanor dropping from the brutal accusing intensity to dark and forlorn. "Lord Kan is actually dead, then?"

"You heard the damn report," Katsuki sounded ready to choke, "The place was decimated. Lord Kan stood by his men to the bitter fucking end."

"And yet you didn't," Commander Tensei frowned in disappointment and Katsuki physically cringed.

"That was not the Captain's fault," Shoto stepped forward, head spinning, "I took him from that battle against his will. He had no desire to leave his men or the Lord Commander. I am to blame for any lost honor."

Katsuki's arms were stiff and his eye scraped over Shoto in shock. Shoto's stomach sank in his torso to meet his gaze, because there was truth to this lie as well. Katsuki had never intended to leave that battlefield and even if Nana was the one who had forced him from it, it was Shoto that Katsuki had been sent after. It was because of Shoto that he was drawn from his post in the first place. And though that may seem like a reason to celebrate for having spared that life by his actions, the longer he spent with Katsuki the more he realized that it was not so simple. And it wasn't just some sense of disgrace that Katsuki experienced, he had said himself that he didn't believe there was honor in death. What he was loath to admit, but dripping in the reality of was a gripping guilt. It was not losing honor, it was survivors guilt, pure and simple.

Katsuki only let himself be distracted by his surprise a moment, though, before glaring back at the map with air sucked sharply through his teeth.

"And you are wrong to call the Lord Commander foolish," Shoto continued, still watching Katsuki, "There is risk involved in the execution of a Blood Mage and you have obviously never encountered one if you believe he was wrong to leave him for the Synod."

"I am more familiar than Lord Natsuo of what a Blood Mage is capable of," Commander Tensei interjected, "And I agree with you. But if you were there, as you claim, why didn't you handle the situation yourself?"

An uncomfortable shift went through Shoto's feet. He was supposed to be a Master after all. The Commander was thinking that as a Synod Master he should be capable of warding and executing a Blood Mage.

"I was not yet a Master at the time," Shoto made his excuses, "I was never trained in the execution of a Fallen and...I was the only mage left remaining. All I could manage was to keep him subdued in the meantime while we waited for the reinforcements from the Synod."

He tried hard to remain coolly poised, to seem unaffected, but speaking of the massacre at Demon's Rise couldn't help but fill his heart with aching and his head with images he wanted badly to forget. Mountains of corpses, blood and death heady in the air, the crushing reality that he should not be alive…that like Katsuki he was a survivor who did not deserve to be.

"What became of the Blood Mage?" Natsuo asked.

Katsuki moved back in to reclaim the story and finish it, eyes never leaving the markings of Demon's Rise on the map or the two tipped red griffins.

"In our last stand he broke free and Lord Kan sent me to stop him," Katsuki growled, "But I was too late. The barricade was breached. Our army was overwhelmed and the Blood Mage stepped in to act. I tried to stay and fight, but the damn Mage took me away from the battle. By the time we made it clear of the battlefield we saw the Blood Mage rip a chasm in the earth and raise a barrier between the encampment and Dawnfell."

Katsuki's fingers curled against the table and Shoto felt his chest clench.

"The Blood Mage had escaped by the time we even got our bearings," Katsuki spat, "I followed my duty and returned to my Lord to report what had happened, to prepare them to send what remained of our army to the frontlines, to hopefully meet you reinforcements and another cohort from the Synod, pick ourselves up from the ashes. But we were given new orders at Dawnsend and now we are here. That's as much as I know of what became of Demon's Rise."

"And what are these new orders?" Natsuo tilted his head.

"You are not privy to them," Shoto shook his head, "The Synod has ordered our silence and under the order of Lord Sorahiko, who agreed to support our mission, the Captain is under the same oath."

Shoto reached into his robe and snatched the parchment they had forged, holding it out towards the men across from them. Commander Tensei stepped forward to take it and brought it over to Natsuo, opening it.

The Mage and the Captain clammed up as their hosts scrutinized it. It had gotten them through border guards, but they had less faith that the trained eyes of a Lord could not see through it.

An angry click of Natsuo's tongue hit the air as the page was tossed onto the table towards Shoto.

"Tarlson has always been cooperative with the Synod," Lord Natsuo said with displeasure, "It is not our place to stand in their way, however much I may dislike the idea of their operatives working in secret under our very noses."

"It's good for you that we did, otherwise your little village would be ash and dust now," Katsuki countered.

Natsuo stood tall and gave a small, annoyed shake of his head. "Whatever my frustration with your secrecy, I suppose I would be remiss not to show gratitude to you for defending Tarlson."

"If this is your gratitude, I can do without it," Katsuki rolled his eyes, "I'd have preferred not being stopped at all. So if you're really interested in showing how grateful you are then let us get back to our work without any more of this meaningless interruption to sate your curiosity."

Natsuo and Tensei locked eyes, conversing silently with looks.

"No," Natsuo lifted his chin, "You will be accommodated here tonight and asked to remain in the Keep until morning. I would like to bring this matter to Lord Enji and Headmaster Keigo before I am entirely convinced that you are trustworthy."

Rage was boiling up into Katsuki's shoulders, but shaking fear quaked up Shoto's legs. Natsuo was looking to corroborate their story with a Synod Headmaster and even the Lord of Tarlson himself. Their story was not airtight and there were potential holes to be punched into it. With that much scrutiny the cracks would certainly start to form.

"All due respect, Lord Natsuo," Katsuki said with absolutely no respect in his voice at all, "But you have no fucking right to detain us. You aren't my Lord and you don't control the Synod. If we want to leave right now, we will damn well leave."

Shoto physically flinched with the sharp, whiplike cut of Katsuki's tone and the burning steel that stared him down from across the table.

"You dare to assume you have any power in _my_ lordship?" Natsuo scoffed, "I have an army to lead and forces to direct in a war than wages both on your homefront and my own. I have no patience for your Dawnfelden pride and I have every reason to be wary of strangers with the sort of power you displayed against the ether's forces today, traversing my lands with the excuse of Synod secrecy."

The idea of staying here through the night at the hospitality of the young Tarlson Lord was grating, especially when considering that he wanted to do so to further peel away at their story, but to continually resist him would begin to make their intent more and more suspicious. They were close to the Summoner and none of them wanted to sit on their hands while he was within their reach, but they also needed to regroup and use the Honing Stone again to know if they had finally closed in on the Summoner, not to mention deciding what could be done about getting Izuku and his friends away from this and returned home safe as he had promised, so it seemed to best idea to be compliant for now.

"Lord Natsuo, forgive the Captain's curtness," Shoto opened one arm diplomatically, emotionlessly, "Our journey has been long and we have been through a hellish day that we have truly not yet recovered from."

Katsuki eyed him like he wanted to gouge out his eyes, but Shoto continued.

"One night will not throw us off track," Shoto continued, hoping that his cooperation would lessen the suspicion, "You are only doing your due diligence. By crossing into your borders we have stepped foot into your home and we would be wrong to disrespect your authority."

Natsuo nodded, something in his eyes turning dark and curious every time he seemed to lock eyes onto Shoto. He shivered every time and felt the impulse to shirk away. There was something about this man that seemed off, but it was impossible to put a finger on what it was.

"We would be grateful for rest and a meal," Shoto spoke truthfully this time, thinking longingly of a real bed and a warm meal, "We are completely road weary. I hope you understand."

The watchful, dissecting, stare remained in the silence longer than Shoto could bear, but finally Natsuo nodded to his request. "You won't be detained longer than necessary. Your cooperation is appreciated. My aid will show you and your companions to where you will be staying. I will call upon you if I have any further questions."

"Thank you, my lord," Shoto bowed his head and stepped back.

Katsuki shoved away from the table uncouthly and mimicked a small, tight bow that could barely be registered as one before turning his back on the Lord of Tarlson. Commander Tensei moved with them to the door, gesturing someone outside of it.

The aid received his instructions from the Commander and with bitter silence still wrapped around the pair, he led them from the war room chambers. Commander Tensei didn't go with them this time, but remained to continue speaking with the Lord Commander and conclude his report of what had happened in Landsleave.

They were reunited with the rest of their party to find them chatting with ease to their supposed captors. The same soldiers that had accompanied them from Landsleave had ingratiated themselves easily with the elves, Nana, and Kyoka, but Izuku and his friends kept to themselves on the other side of the room whispering quietly.

Everyone leapt to attention when the two returned, but the excitement shifted when it was explained that they were being detained for the night by the Lord Commander. It wasn't taken pleasantly at first, but there wasn't much room for arguing about it and a certain relief came when they realized they would have a real bed to sleep on and a hot meal tonight.

The aid dismissed the Tarlson soldiers, informing them that Commander Tensei had ordered them back to the barracks and then guided their guests through the Keep. They were brought to the guest quarters in the wing where most of the Keep's Guard also resided and shown two large rooms, each placed directly across from each other. The aid asked for separation of genders as was common in a place like this, but taken with some offense by those who had someone they were not keen on separating from.

The biggest resistance came from Ochako. She and the dragon seemed clingy, or rather he seemed awestruck and distracted by his surroundings and she couldn't seem to keep more than a foot from him. She looked close to throwing a fit that she was being asked to sleep across the hall, but Izuku calmed her quickly, whispering assurances that he would keep an eye on Eijiro.

Denki and Mina frowned at the situation, but they didn't give verbal complaints, just exchanged a few looks and went to their rooms. It left Shoto with a sneaking suspicion that they were only feigning compliance and he would end up having to deal with them again later.

Once everyone had settled they were informed that there would be guards posted outside of their rooms at all times, monitoring the coming and going of their party and watching their movements closely. Katsuki had a few more choice words for them, but they wouldn't be swayed or even brought to aggravation with him so the Captain had no choice but to give up.

The guards allowed the girls to cross the hall while there was still some daylight left and they joined the rest in the large room the men had been given, the guards not so concerned since the walls were a bit thin and it would give them a chance to eavesdrop. They tried to reiterate as much as they could that they were not actually prisoners, but their guests weren't so easily fooled.

When the remixed Mina went right to Denki and dropped her arm on his shoulder and Ochako obviously took great concern in getting to Eijiro's side as quickly as possible. Chatter picked up immediately and took along the lines of wondering what was happening and why they were being kept here, but Shoto slammed a finger starchly to his lips and demanded complete silence before tapping Izuku's shoulder, signalling him to cast the spell they had agreed upon beforehand.

A bright white glyph formed in Izuku's hand as he moved to the middle of the room and with a sweeping motion he pushed it upwards before a glow circled the room and then dissipated.

"You're okay to speak now," Izuku nodded to Shoto.

"A muting spell?" Nana asked with interest.

"Muffling," Izuku smiled, proudly, "Complete silence would be suspicious. This way they won't be able to understand what we're saying, but they'll still hear talking. Training with the High Circle has its benefits. It will only last about ten minutes though."

Shoto inhaled to speak, but was cut off by a concerned hand raise from Denki across from him.

"Wait," he frowned over the three newcomers to their party, "Are we going to talk about everything here? What about them? I thought we were trying to keep them in the dark."

The three in question all exchanged looks, but Katsuki was the one to grumble a response. "We're stuck with them and we don't have time to worry about what they know. Just do it, mage." he jerked up his chin at Shoto to continue.

"Nana," Shoto took the lead back and braced himself as he held out his palm, "You have the Honing Stone?"

She nodded and pulled it from her robes, stepping forward and holding it out to Shoto. He physically flinched when he took it and heard Izuku gasp beside him. In the same moment he heard Eijiro in his head practically hiss with distaste, mentally muttering to himself that he could taste the Ether in the air, perhaps not even meant to be communicated to Shoto. It alleviated a small lingering sense Shoto had been feeling that perhaps he was just crazy for feeling so affected by the Stone. He wasn't the only who could sense how intensely connected this item was to that accursed realm.

"A Honing Stone?" Izuku got into Shoto's personal space, looking it over with wide eyes, "What have you gotten yourself into, Shoto?"

The sharp tremor of the ether ebbing from the stone pulsed through Shoto's very skin and he grimaced on Izuku's question, shaking his head.

"We agreed not to talk about it, didn't we?"

Izuku frowned. "I know that, but the only reason someone would use a Honing Stone is to find the Summoner and, practically speaking, the Summoner should be somewhere beyond Dawnfell, shouldn't he? Why are you in Tarlson, looking for the Summoner?"

"Drop the damn questions, Mage," Katsuki barked and looked to Shoto, "Get on with it."

Shoto eyed Izuku a moment, but didn't answer him, just activated the spell while Mina pulled out the map from Denki's pack and laid it out on the floor at Shoto's feet. The process went much the same as last time, but this time it was far from as vivid. He crouched down and with his hand over the map he used the active spell to make sure what he saw was physically tracked on the parchment.

The vision moved fast and yet exceptionally slow. Shoto was swept from the Keep and out of the city, finding each inch of road tainted with black footsteps. The stone took him away from the city, away from the direction of Landsleave and the path they'd taken to get there. It was taking him north and continued to drag him until he came upon a spired pass, a wide cut through a mountainous region. And then he came to breaking halt.

The very scenery was a darkly shadowed uncertainty and for a moment he was confused and he felt his hands shake. Nothing about what he saw ever truly became clear. There was movement, so much movement; blackened shapes, shapes that the stone drug him towards. The shapes were massive and small and so much in between and gathered like a hoard around the darkest form of all. It was still so unclear, but that figure drew him in with more determination than anything else did. Shoto could feel that it was the rift, the tear between their worlds, the Summoner.

Shoto's body was suddenly weak and he went from a shaky crouch to collapse on his knees and free hand. With all of his willpower he tried to pull away from the Summoner, to drop the stone, to get out of the vision or break the spell, but the stone unrelentingly drew him closer and closer as though they could physically pass through the rift if it dragged him hard enough.

Just as fear threatened to grip him into oblivion, the world cleared in a snap. His hand unseized and the stone hit the ground as Shoto gasped and coughed, shaking his head of the delirium and he looked over the room in a panic.

That's when he noticed Nana's hand on his shoulder and Ochako's magically glowing palm pulling away from his head. All eyes were on him with shock and horror, most of his companions frozen halfway through a motion to come to his aid, now looking to him for an explanation as to what had just happened.

"What did you see?" Nana squeezed his shoulder, helping him straighten.

Shoto's throat was dry and it took a moment to be able to speak.

"I don't know," the experience was becoming fuzzier with passing moments, like a dream that faded after waking, "I saw him, but he was still so vague. The stone had hold of me and I couldn't control anything… It wouldn't let go…"

"He must be incredibly close," Izuku blinked shock down at Shoto.

"What do you mean?" Nana tilted her head.

Izuku crouched down to pick up the small rock from beside Ochako, turning the stone, still pulsing like a headache with Ether, in front of his eyes like he didn't feel what Shoto did when he held the accursed thing.

"What sort of rock is that?" The question came unexpectedly from Eijiro, something uncomfortable in how he said it, "It's making the whole room feel weird."

"Red…" Ochako's tone had warning, but Shoto couldn't bring himself to worry about them and their secrets while his head was so flooded with those images and the confusion of how tightly the stone held to him.

"It's a Honing Stone," Izuku eyed Shoto a little judgmentally, "The Synod uses them to find Summoners. We were trained on how to correctly use them at the Center Magesterium…"

There was a bitter prick in Shoto's throat, a frown cutting his expression on Izuku.

"It's a piece of the Ether that has enough will to want to return home," Izuku explained, catching everyone's attention even though some had already heard the explanation of what it was and how it worked, "With certain spells it can show you where it wants to go and will draw its holder to the Summoner, but the closer you are, the stronger its grip."

Izuku lowered the stone and Nana reached out to take it back. He gave it over easily and pointed a curious head tilt at Shoto.

"We were told never to cast that spell alone, that multiple people should do it together at all times," he continued, "Even if he was across the country from you, you shouldn't have tried it on your own. A lot of Masters struggle to stabilize that spell, let alone a Novice."

A knifelike feeling cut up Shoto's gut at being called a Novice. It felt wrong to still be called such a thing after everything he'd seen and done and it wasn't true either. He should be an apprentice right now, but he was an ill trained, full fledged Battle Mage instead. Even if he didn't like that title, but preferred it to Novice.

"Oi, look at this," Katsuki snapped his fingers at their distractions and drew all eyes to the map.

On the canvas a very short line left the Tarlson Keep and trailed up northward to Tarl's Pass, a cut of land that went through the mountains that sat between Tarlson and the Capitol's main road. The line stopped there and became a jumbled mess of scratches and chaotic markings that almost formed the outline of a man if not for how shaky it was.

Shoto shivered.

"The Summoner," Nana dropped down to the map and pressed a finger over the marking.

Katsuki sucked his teeth, "He's close enough to grab…"

"And we're stuck here," Shoto concluded the frustrated thought.

"He won't get too far," Kyoka tilted her head at the map, "He doesn't know we're looking for him. We tracked him here all the way from Dawnfell without him moving farther than a few miles. We can track him a bit further if we have to."

"Really helpful input there, bard," Katsuki spat sarcasm and Kyoka rolled her eyes.

"You're really tracking the Summoner?" Ochako marveled at the marked up map and then at the faces around her, "Isn't that supposed to be the Synod's job?"

"It _is_ the Synod's job," Izuku crossed his arms at those around him

Their new companions were mostly ignored as the rest tried to stay focussed on what this might mean for their mission.

"What exactly did you see there, Shoto?" Nana asked, turning up her gaze to him.

The young mage winced to think about it, but closed his eyes to focus on the visions and reiterate what he saw.

"It brought me to the pass; at its edge there were all these shadows," he ground his teeth, "They were moving and alive, but dark like the Summoner. He was there too and his presence felt strong, intensely strong."

"Well that doesn't sound good," Mina and Denki grit teeth at each other.

"Sounds like a fucking problem," Katsuki was pacing now, "What were the shadows supposed to be?"

"If I knew I would have said so," Shoto snipped, nerves on edge and patience worn thin.

"We need to prepare ourselves for a fight then," Nana gathered the map and stood.

"I thought that was already the plan," Denki tapped his blade with a smirk.

"Fighting the Summoner is one thing," Nana tsked, "Fighting him and a possible small army is another."

"It's the damn Summoner," Katsuki nodded across the way to Denki, "You really thought he wouldn't use Fallen Magic against us?"

The discussion was cut off by a tight grip on Shoto's arm, pulling him to look eye to eye with Izuku. "Shoto, I know what we agreed, but I can't just watch this happen in front of me and not ask what the hell you're doing," Izuku said firmly, "Why is the Summoner in Tarlson? Why isn't the Synod handling this?"

Shoto shirked him off, the very sensation of being touched driving him up the wall in his current state. That experience with the Honing Stone was still crawling under his skin and he could feel himself projecting that impatience physically.

"The Synod failed, we have to take matters into our own hands," Shoto flinched when he said it.

"What are you saying?" Izuku searched his eyes, cautiously.

"Your precious Synod took the Griffin Cohort out of Dawnfell," Katsuki hissed, "There isn't a single Hunter to be found and you fuckers thought we could fight a war with a bunch of kids fresh out of the Magesterium and some old men."

Izuku's shoulders visibly dropped and he turned his face away in bewilderment.

"But why?"

"I'd like to know," Shoto clenched his fists.

Nana gently touched his shoulder, but he didn't shirk it like he had Izuku, it didn't spark the same irritation.

"We have to take matters into our own hands," Nana said darkly, "We have to kill the Summoner if we want this war to stop. If the Synod were tracking him down like we are their Hunters would be far ahead of us, wouldn't they?"

"But you can't kill the Summoner," Izuku's arms flung open, exasperated, "We won't be able to banish the Archdemon if he's dead! We'll lose our gateway."

"The Archdemon cannot be banished!" Nana's energy came back in full, nothing harsh in her loud voice, but quite serious, "More powerful mages than you or I have already tried and failed. But it can be killed and we will kill it if we can destroy its tether to our world."

The words seemed to shatter Izuku's entire world and his hand went into a fist in his hair as he stepped away from them, staring at the ground in confusion.

"This is why I didn't want to talk about it," Shoto muttered.

"Can you really kill an Archdemon?" Ochako gaped at the people around her, waiting for one of the many watching eyes to disavow it.

Nana nodded, "Yes."

"If an Archdemon could be killed the Synod would have done so already," Izuku shook his head, "It's not possible. Our magic isn't strong enough and conventional weapons won't do enough damage."

"The Synod is not the last word on all things magic," Nana huffed, a touch smug, arms crossing at the young mage, "They are not willing to do what is necessary to kill it."

"Spoken like a true Renegade," Izuku snapped back and immediately bit his cheek, eyes darting over to Ochako as he said it, his regret clear.

His attrition was not quick enough to spare him a frown from Ochako and a small, pouted look from Eijiro beside her. But Ochako didn't get to the point of true anger and instead moved to Izuku with consideration on her lips.

"Apprentice," she tilted her mouth, "We've already proven to you that a lot of magic that the Synod rejects is greater than they think… Maybe it isn't so crazy to consider that there might be some kind of magic that could kill an Archdemon that the Synod rejected or doesn't even know about."

Izuku's expression pinched, the conflict in his head clear on his face as everyone watched him with apprehension. The two elves, though, took it in like a thrilling show, whispering in underlying smiles to themselves like there was humor to be found somewhere in this. Shoto was tempted to be angry with them, but he didn't have the energy to spare on their ceaselessly inappropriate behavior.

"There's isn't some backwater Bog Magic that can do what they're saying," Izuku said solidly to Ochako and slowly scraped his gaze up Nana and then Shoto, "The only magic that has a chance of doing what you're saying is the very magic that put us in this situation to begin with. You can't use Fallen Magic against the archdemon!"

He said it so easily and yet pleaded it so desperately it made Shoto's heart skip a beat. The accusation was more for Nana than for Shoto, Izuku would have had no reason to believe that Shoto's hands were already tainted with the touch of Fallen Magic, but it was just as scathing. Even if all he was doing was allowing Nana to use Blood Magic it was so contrary to everything they had been taught in the Synod that Izuku would no doubt be horrified. And it scared Shoto to think of him knowing much further from grace he really was.

Ochako shifted a little closer to Izuku as she looked around the room at the many faces unaffected by the accusation. Katsuki had pushed away from the bedframe, though, and his hand rested casually on his sword, the way he stood saying that he was prepared to end this conversation by force if need be.

"Only one life needs to be sacrificed to end this, young mage," Nana said in a calm, somber voice, "It's not yours or any of your fellow mages' lives. Isn't that preferable to the countless deaths that will continue to pile up if we do nothing?"

"You've twisted this situation for your selfish purposes!" Izuku shouted in exacerbation.

"She's not lying," Shoto stood tall beside her, brow tight, "If you won't believe her then believe me...Izuku, I was there. So was the Captain. If you saw what we saw you would believe it too. There is no simple or even morally upright answer to what is coming for Gaetha."

"You can't be serious," Izuku's expression fell hard, cutting Shoto with pure disappointment, "You put me to shame with how stringent you were to the Synod's rules and now you're the one telling me that Fallen Magic is a good thing?"

"It isn't a good thing, it's a necessary thing," Shoto winced on every memory he had of Fallen Magic, "Nothing as evil and powerful and hellish as that thing can be defeated by what our meager magic can do. It ripped apart our armies and cohorts. Even if the Griffin Cohort had been there, they would have died as easily as the rest of us. Everything we could do barely touched it. Nothing stood to stop it except…"

He looked at Nana and his voice caught in his throat, hands shaking and heart palpitating quickly with the flood of feelings he had to force down daily and nightly in an attempt to stay sane.

"Except Nana," Shoto finished firmly, "She had it crawling away in retreat, on its last shred of life…"

"I didn't account for the Summoner, though, and my killing blow was knocked away, the Archdemon pulled from the fight and revitalized in moments," Nana bore her own degree of powerful frustration, "For the Synod they've only ever seen the Summoner as the rift between our world and the gateway to send the Archdemon back, but the Summoner is also it's tether to this world, the thing that strengthens it and as long as the Summoner lives the Archdemon will be unkillable."

The pure turmoil in Izuku's face had everyone in the room on edge. It wasn't clear cut rage, but Izuku was never one prone to irrationality so it may have just been hiding below surface level.

"But with him alive we could banish it," Izuku rubbed the side of his head, "If we captured him and brought him back to the Synod they could do it. Why is your only solution Fallen Magic?"

"You act like I'm looking for an excuse to use Fallen Magic," Nana scowled at him, "You're like every other Synod mage, believing that because we don't want to live in your dictatorship that our hearts are corrupted rocks of pure ether."

The sleeve of Nana's shirt ripped up and fading black streaks hit the light as she winced. Izuku choked, startled and darting his eyes from the marks to Nana's face.

"You think I want to live with this?" Nana scoffed, "My magical affinity is to Nature Magic. I lived among Denki's family for most of my life, learning only of ways to preserve and nurture life!"

"It's true," Denki nodded, "Solstice elves don't really approve of Fallen Magic either, so she didn't get it from us."

"We don't care," Mina added, unhelpfully, "It kind of seems ridiculous that you're even having this conversation. Magic is magic."

"Magic is not just magic!" Izuku shouted at her, "Fallen Magic is called that for a reason. There's harm...irreparable damage when it's used, either to yourself or others."

"And I'm taking that harm on myself so no one else has to," Nana squared her shoulders, though Shoto didn't miss the tiny glance she through his way denoting that one small secret between them that she was not actually taking this burden on alone, "If the Synod could actually handle this themselves I wouldn't hesitate to let them, there is no sense in a Renegade mage involving herself in a Summoner under normal circumstances, but the Archdemon cannot be banished and it falls to those willing to do what it takes to resolve this. Just like every other Renegade I don't want any part of this and truly I don't want the blackness of the ether on my skin, but I can't do nothing when I know I could end this horrible war."

"She's right," it surprised everyone to hear Ochako voice agreement, "About there being no point in a Renegade fighting in a Summoning. Even the Bog Mages don't get involved. We have an unspoken agreement that Summonings are the Synod's problem. And a Summoning doesn't benefit anyone but the Summoner so there's no reason for even another Fallen Mage to support it…"

"You believe her?" Izuku widened his eyes at Ochako.

The girl shot back a determined glare. "I don't know, I'm saying there's no reason for her to lie. What's there for her to gain? Going up against the Archdemon is more likely to end in everyone's deaths, isn't it? A sane person would just get out of Gaetha as fast as possible if they believed that the Synod couldn't stop the Archdemon or end the Summoning. And Shoto, your friend, believes her; maybe you should at least consider something new before deciding that the Synod's way is the only way."

There was something about the way she said and the way she stared so firmly at Izuku that told Shoto there was something more to what she was saying, but that it was only for Izuku.

"Hey, we're out of time, everyone," Kyoka snapped her fingers towards them, glancing over the dissipating shimmer of Izuku's spell.

The tension broke and if Izuku had any further argument or commentary it was shut down by Katsuki moving to the center of the group and barking orders like he was so well equipped to do.

"Everyone watch your damn mouth and keep your heads, especially you," he jabbed a finger at Izuku, "I don't give a shit what you think about all this, if our cover is blown the Archdemon will be the least of anyone's damn concerns. Me and Shoto will handle talking to these people and if you can fucking manage that we'll be out of here by the morning. If they ask you anything you're under orders not to speak about it so shut the hell up. And you three," he addressed Ochako, Izuku, and Eijiro together this time, "If any of you so much as open your mouth about anything you heard here or try to get in our way I'll separate your head from your fucking shoulders, got it?"

Izuku and Ochako glared at his curt words, but nodded tightly. Eijiro chuckled and agreed as well, which seemed a light reaction to a very serious threat, but what did he really have to fear from the Captain, after all? He was an entire dragon under that flesh disguise. The idea of Katsuki trying to kill him was probably very funny.

The spell cut out entirely and every word had to suddenly be chosen with care now. But before Shoto could even pull himself from the tumultuous pool of his own apprehensions over Izuku, their meeting was interrupted by the door opening to one of the guards informing them that dinner had been served in the mess hall and that they were welcome to join.

All other concerns drifted on the wind when faced with the opportunity to fill their aching bellies and they followed the guard eagerly to the mess hall. Like the soldiers that had ridden in with them, this guard had a friendly heir that seemed out of place for a lordship so proud as Tarlson. Many of the other faces filling the hall were more like what they expected, though, and threw suspicious looks their way. Especially at Katsuki, eyeing his Dawnfelden uniform with a wary eye. It confused Shoto, much like the harsh interaction between Katsuki and Natsuo had been. They acted like they hated each other just for the region they were born in, but also spoke of their respect to the others' accomplishments. And both parts felt genuine. There was no opportunity for prejudices like that in the Magesterium, no one had a Lordship to owe themselves too and they all lived under one creed.

When they sat down to eat, the elves shoveled down their food like they hadn't eaten in months and then took immediately to mingling with the Keep's Guard. Even in a den of Tarlson warriors they looked for connections and ways to barter favors. It was easy to get attention for them as most people in Gaetha weren't familiar with Moondancers, which made Mina stand out and draw them in. It made Shoto cringe to watch them, acting so casually at the neighboring table, Denki sitting on the table's edge, flipping a coin in his fingers, while Mina let them touch the skin on her hand to see that it was just like theirs despite being an unearthly color.

Everyone else remained in their own contemplative degree of silence. Izuku and Nana's were the most intense, both so desperately thinking over the conversation they had just had. Ochako was watching him intently and keeping her shoulders hiked in apprehension of the situation she was in, surrounded by Tarlson soldiers. Katsuki and Kyoka were sitting across from each other so no conversation was bound to happen there besides an argument.

It didn't take long for the proximity and silent frustration they had with each other to get to the Captain and bard and as soon as she cleared her plate, Kyoka left the table to join the elves in their mingling. Katsuki visibly dropped his shoulders in relief when she did and went at his food with eagerness.

The only person who really wanted to talk was Eijiro it seemed, but he could hear through the disappointed muttering in the thoughts he didn't seem to realize he was projecting, that Ochako was imploring his silence. Shoto could even see that her hand was gripping on his leg, signalling him that she didn't feel it was safe here. By the way she acted around him, Shoto might have guessed Eijiro to be the world's most inept and unaware idiot. And he did have a certain obliviousness to him, but he also got the feeling that Ochako was being overcautious.

The displeasure with being trapped silently in his seat showed in the deep frown and the way he vanquished down his food with a voracious appetite. But that ended his meal very quickly and left a second wave of disappointment when he was left staring at an empty plate.

Shoto glanced down at his own barely touched plate and then met eyes with Eijiro.

_"You're still hungry?"_

Eijiro nodded across the table subtly, throwing him a smile.

_"This body is human, but there's still a hungry dragon in there,"_ He verbally sighed as he stared at the cooked meat, _"What I wouldn't give for a fresh kill, right now."_

Shoto looked around him at the distracted faces of his companions, none noticing that he'd started mentally communicating with the dragon, even Ochako oblivious to it.

Initially he was disgusted by the idea of Eijiro tearing into raw meat, but he had seen him in his true form as well and the image changed to something befitting such a large, powerful beast.

It did catch a few eyes when Shoto pushed his plate over, but no one said anything or really paid it any attention. Eijiro thanked him in his head and perked up incredibly to have extended his meal.

While their connection was still open and no one else was talking, though, Shoto figured it was a good time to ask what had been in his head since the conversation in their room. _"What do you think about everything we talked about? Do you think we're wrong too?"_

Eijiro paused mid-bite and took a look at those around him.

_"About the Summoner?"_

_"That and using Fallen Magic to fight him."_

His head tilted at Shoto, eyebrow raised and then he flinched when a loud voice cut off the mental conversation.

"The fuck are you looking at, kid?" Katsuki glared suspiciously at Eijiro who was eying Shoto curiously.

"Huh?" Eijiro blinked.

"Hey, back off," Ochako slammed her fist on the table of the Captain.

"Don't tell me what to do, fatface," Katsuki hissed in return.

Ochako's seat shifted and Eijiro was the one grabbing her to keep her down this time as she physically got ready to get into this fight. Izuku snagged her arm as well and they both pulled her back down as Shoto frowned over Katsuki. Ochako looked at the Captain with the devil in her eye, but Izuku's expression only got stricter.

"We can't be starting fight's here, Ochako," he whispered.

"Katsuki, settle down," Nana said calmly, taking another methodical bite of food, "We're all on edge and Izuku is right, we don't need to draw any more attention. Let the boy look where he wants, he's not hurting anyone."

Hot air shot out of Katsuki's nose and he pushed up to his feet, dropping his palms viciously on the table at the three on the other side.

"Watch yourselves," he whispered like a python.

He stepped away from the table and wordlessly left the hall, shoulders, shoulders hiked up and body tight.

_"Is he okay?"_ Eijiro arched an eyebrow after him, _"Why is he always so angry?"_

_"I wish I knew," _Shoto just shrugged and sighed.

"Thank you," Izuku gave a small nod to Nana and then returned to his sulked contemplation of the food on his plate.

Ochako forced herself back down roughly into her seat. "My face isn't even that fat," she grumbled.

Eijiro turned back around and pinched a rather plump cheek in inspection, before it was swatted away.

"Humans are all so squishy, but you definitely have a bit more squish than the rest of them," he said quietly, chuckling.

Nana darted a glance at him, but said nothing and the weirdly worded comment.

Shoto ground his teeth and shot a glare at Eijiro. _"Watch what you're saying, unless you want people to suspect you aren't human."_

Eijiro's eyes widened and he nodded. _"You're right. Sorry."_

_"Do you have an answer to my question?"_

Eijiro settled back and returned to his food like nothing had just happened. _"I don't really know, Mage. I don't understand human magic all that well. I don't even understand dragon magic. The only magic I've ever been around has been Ochako and the Bog Mages'. They've talked about Fallen Magic before, but I don't really understand the difference. All magic comes from the Ether, some of it's just stronger than others. It's how you use it that makes it good or bad, right?"_

_"That's what Nana says too," _Shoto turned his eyes to the older woman, to the weathered corners of her eyes and the smile lines around her mouth. The years of joy and struggle telling their story in her skin and in her eyes.

_"I don't think I like that Stone, though," _Eijiro added, _"It makes everything taste like Ether. I didn't like how it made me feel."_

_"How did it make you feel?"_ Shoto gave a slight quirk to his eyebrow.

Eijiro's eyes dropped, something bashful or saddened in his body, his glances towards Ochako deeply telling.

_"It was like I was longing for something I'd never seen before,"_ he sounded confused, _"Like I wanted to follow where it was going. I didn't like the taste or the smell, but somehow I still wanted more of it… It's hard to explain."_

Shoto considered that description with interest, curious for himself why he felt the stone differently from Nana and the others and more than anything hoping to distract himself from the other more pressing issues surrounding them right now. He had noticed his uncomfortable reaction to it earlier and was hoping that maybe Eijiro had felt the same thing as him, but that didn't seem to be the case. But it was a dragon's reaction versus a human's reaction so he shouldn't have been surprised or disappointed that their experience was not the same.

_"At the Magesterium they told us that dragons originated from the Ether," _Shoto tried to regurgitate old lessons, _"I don't know if that's true, but if it is, maybe you have a natural inclination to return to it, like the Stone does."_

_"Like a demon?" _Eijiro's head popped up.

_"No...well, not that I know," _Shoto hesitated there, unsure how to express this, _"You're the first dragon I've ever met so I don't know much from experience. I know I've never heard a good story about dragons, which is exactly why you're hiding. The accepted opinion on dragons is that they are either inherently evil or mindless animals with too much destructive power."_

_"That's why humans hunted us… Killed us and treated us like animals."_

_"But that was also what we were told to accept about Renegade Mages," _Shoto stared at his hands, folded on the table,_ "that they are irredeemable and will always Fall. It's hard to know what's true anymore."_

Eijiro smiled at him and there was a tiny warm feeling in his chest. Shoto shifted and shuddered to make it go away.

_"But you know better now," _he finished the rest of Shoto's plate, _"And if you and Izuku can change your opinions on dragons and Renegade mages, maybe others can too."_

_"Maybe so…"_

To be entirely truthful, Shoto didn't quite know his own opinion on those two entities as a whole, there were far too many years of Synod teaching and intense warnings in his head to throw caution to the wind so entirely. But he did know that he trusted Nana and that he felt inclined to trust Eijiro too. He wanted to trust Ochako, but that trust felt reliant on Izuku vouching for her and right now there was a lot of uncertainty around what Izuku would do with the information he'd learned today.

"Izuku," it almost felt strange to talk aloud again when he called for the other's mage's attention.

He met Shoto's eye as he stood and jerked his head towards the door.

"We should talk," he felt his gut drop at his own words, but also a small prick of relief that Izuku nodded and moved to follow the action.

_"Good luck, mage," _Ejirio encouraged, seeming to pick up on the reason for the sudden shift without Shoto explaining.

Izuku put a hand on Ochako's shoulder and asked her and Eijiro to be careful and then left the mess hall at Shoto's heels.

Guards kept their eyes on them as the two silently went in search of a semi private location in the wing they were fairly restricted to. It took some exploration and wandering, but they eventually found themselves on the ramparts that overlooked the Keep's training grounds. It was luckily empty on the where they stood and far enough above to not be overhead by those raining below.

Shoto moved to the railing to look down at everything and Izuku leaned his back against it, not interested in watching the drills of the Tarlson men moving in scarily efficient formations, precision and power in every swipe of a sword or bash of a shield. It was difficult for Shoto to tear his eyes away from them, though, remembering as they moved the training he had watched so many times at the fronts and the fear he felt while his own cohort engaged in their own drills. Remembered how they were all so young and inexperienced and so ill prepared for a war.

"Shoto," Izuku's voice was quiet, but strong, "This isn't right… I don't know what happened out there, but Fallen Magic is just-"

"I should be dead, Izuku," Shoto cut him off and quieted the complaint, "I have no right to be alive. There is nothing in this world more clear to me than how completely I have cheated death with every breath I take."

"What are you talking about?" Izuku pinched his eyebrows.

"You cannot understand desperation and abandonment the way I've known it," Shoto went on, then glared downward, "The Synod looked at you and saw someone worthy of the Center Magesterium, of the High Circle, of every support and respect. They looked at me and they saw a bit of flesh to throw at the Archdemon. There is no greater threat in this world than that monster, nothing more skin crawling then feeling how the Ether just ebbs off of it. I saw men desert and gladly take execution over standing in the wake of the Summoners armies a moment longer. Trained, battle worn men wet themselves when the gates opened and they were faced with the reanimated remains of their friends, brought back to life just to cleave them."

Shoto's hand went up to his face, his fingers running down the mangled, divots of flesh running from his forehead to his chin. There was a flinch from Izuku as his crossed arms tightened.

"Every man fought despite it," Shoto said more calmly than he felt, "We all stood there and looked death in the eye. Ten thousand men, four cohorts."

Panic was a rising mass in Shoto's chest, but he fought through the desire to crumble under it.

"When Nana arrived we had just over a thousand soldiers left," Shoto's lip shook, "And I was the only mage left standing."

Izuku swallowed, his voice not as confident as it was trying to be, "It's war, Shoto…"

"Easy for you to say," Shoto groaned, "The label you put on it doesn't change a horror from being a horror. What those Demons did to Landsleave was nothing, but it easily could have been a small version of it. The three of us barely took down the one Major Demon...and by all rights we shouldn't have managed that if our experience is anything to judge by. But both times the only thing that kept the very field where we stood from being a place of genocide was Nana… It was Blood Magic."

He expected an offended response, but Izuku was silent. His green eyes bored into Shoto, but he couldn't meet them.

"She didn't harm any of us by using it either," Shoto explained, "She decimated that Major Demon on her own with just the power of her own blood at Landsleave. At the fronts she took power from the recently dead and in front of my eyes a Shrike Demon crumbled to ash with the same effort it took to flick her wrist. And then ripped the Archdemon into its last shreds of life."

It was still quiet from the other mage, but Izuku's mind was obviously racing.

"The Archdemon retreated like a wounded animal," Shoto breathed out into those words, still amazed by what he'd witnessed, "The Summoner kept it clinging to life, but it was so wounded it gave up its fight with us. You know as well as I do that that is unheard of. The Synod could never have."

Shoto pushed away from the railing to look at Izuku head on, to lock eyes and drive home the intent.

"We were abandoned by the Synod, Izuku," he lifted his chin, "They took the most equipped people away from where they were needed most to be replaced with inexperienced fighters and there have been no apparent efforts to even find the Summoner. They sent novice mages to their deaths without explanation, without proper training. Our reinforcements from the Synod and from the other Lordships all came too slowly and the fronts fell before they even set foot in Dawnfell. And once again I owed my very life to Nana. She drug me and Katsuki from the encampment and split the very earth to keep the enemy at bay."

Shoto waited this time, waited to hear Izuku's response, to hear him say anything. And when he did finally speak, Shoto flinched on the mixed nature of his tone.

"If you had told me this yesterday, I would have beaten you senseless and brought back to the Magesterium in chains for having lost your mind," Izuku glared at the ground and then shook his head, "But...Landsleave made it clear what the forces of the ether are capable of. And if I hadn't met Ochako I wouldn't have believed that a Renegade Mage could be anything but evil or ignorant. I still don't know what to think, Shoto, but I know you believe what you're doing is right… And you're right. I wasn't there, how could I know how bad things really are? How could I know what the solution is? But...Blood Magic…"

"I know," Shoto sighed in agreement, "It's wrong no matter my excuses. But we don't intend to use others for this and if the only harm that is done is to the mage using it, it is worth that for the sake of ending this. We have already come to terms with our fate and do not regret doing what we must."

"We?" Izuku turned to fully face Shoto, who shrunk under the inspecting stare. In it there was more concern than judgment, though.

"Nana can't do it alone," Shoto let his hands dangle at his sides, clammy with the thought of it, "We can't count on an army of freshly dead to aid us, but luckily the blood of mages courses with raw magic and the pure taint of the ether. A few drops of my own blood can make me stronger than my most powerful spell. Combined there is a chance we may have the strength to end the Archdemon."

"You...you can't be serious," Izuku pushed away from the rampart, opening his hands to Shoto, "Shoto, if you use Blood Magic even once you'll-"

"I will be executed, disavowed, or reconditioned," Shoto nodded, unable to keep the fallen look from his eyes, "I know and I've already accepted that. I will deserve whatever they do to me for my crimes, but I have no doubt that it must be done."

"It doesn't have to be!"

Shoto felt his forearms suddenly taken into Izuku's graspd, desperation in every motion and the look that turned up to his friend, pleading.

"Izuku-"

"No, you don't need to sacrifice your future over this," Izuku shook his head, "It's not too late, just give this up and return to the Center Magesterium with me. We can explain your absence from the fronts and get you pardon and-"

"I can't," Shoto tugged to get away from Izuku, but the shorter man's strength surprised him, "We already told you this is too important and the Synod is unwilling or unable to do anything about it. I'm capable of doing something worthwhile and I'm willing to face the consequences for it. If Nana does it alone it could kill her and the Archdemon might not even die for the effort she gives alone. For whatever reason she believes I have the power to do it. She…she marveled at my power when she met me...when I should have been more astounded by hers. She questioned the same things I didn't realize I was questioning and she faced her own harsh fate with more grace than I ever could. I'm alive because of her and I owe her my assistance, my life...my loyalty until the end of this. I know it is not the Synod's job to coddle their mages, but I have never heard from our masters the things that Nana has said to me. I have never been encouraged the way she has encouraged me. I can't help how I feel about this, Izuku, and I would rather die helping Nana save the world than hide away in a Magesterium while I wait for the world to burn around us."

Izuku tightened his grip when Shoto tried to pull away again and fixed his gaze more firmly. There was a certain understanding that only Izuku had ever shown to Shoto in those big green eyes and every moment he went without a response from his friend of many years hurt all the more. This was why attachments were discouraged in the Synod, because they created these conflicts of spirit instead of a mindless adherence to law. But his attachment to Nana had already gotten him here and his attachment to Izuku was a minor pain in comparison to what giving up on his decision would feel.

"I think I understand," Izuku grimaced, "But I care that what you're doing could ruin you...that it could damn you. I don't want you to do something you can't take back."

Finally Shoto stopped trying to get away and just relaxed into the tight hold, angling his eyes downward, just past Izuku's face.

"It's already too late for me. I've already used Blood Magic."

Izuku's hands jerked away and it stung more than a slap.

"How could you-"

"It wasn't on purpose the first time," Shoto shot hot air from his nose, "I was bleeding and desperate and I didn't even know that I was doing it."

"You can't accidentally use Blood Magic!" Izuku snapped, then looked around and softened his voice from any prying ears, "That's impossible."

"I'm aware," Shoto pursed his mouth, shaking his head down at the training below, "I never wanted to acknowledge that, but it's the most unsettling part. It must mean that I have never been salvageable. I thought I was just cursed like you, but maybe I was just born Fallen…"

"No one is born Fallen," Izuku ran fingers through tight curls.

"We're born cursed, aren't we?" Shoto stuck him with a stabbing glare, "Why can't be we born Fallen under that same logic?"

"I can't believe that." The angered, fearful response had lessened, but Izuku still stood at a distance.

"It doesn't matter," Shoto shook his head, resting his arms back against the railing, "Whatever the reason, Blood Magic comes disturbingly easy for me. I've always been damned so I might as well use the power to help Nana and defend our world."

A haunting quiet entered the ramparts and the sounds of clanking shields and practice swords were like a buzzing to Shoto's ears; something to fill the silence, but agitating enough to make his skin crawl.

Eventually Shoto choked out his last point, turned away a shaking lip to get out the words on his tongue, unable to look at Izuku as he said them.

"I believe everything I was taught," he said, "Nana doesn't believe in the mission of the Synod, but I do. I believe that the Cursed have to strive every day to work their way away from damnation, while the untainted get to choose their path. I believe that the magic of the Fallen is, at its heart, evil and I've felt it in my skin how it taints and corrupts the very flesh that uses it. And I intend to pay for my wrongs when this is over."

He inhaled deeply and managed to turn his mismatched eyes up to Izuku and keep his voice in check.

"When the Archdemon is dead, I want you to wait for me at the Center Magesterium," Shoto requested, "I want to turn myself over to you. You're better than most of us Izuku. Even when you look the very betrayal of our ways in the face you are somehow understanding, somehow kind… Please advocate for my reconditioning. I don't want to be banished to the wastelands. I don't want to live with the evil I will have allowed to corrupt me. I would rather remember nothing and be mindless."

The air in Shoto's lungs caught in his throat when a tear rolled down Izuku's face. "Shoto...how could you ask me to do that? You're my friend…"

"And as my friend I need you to protect me from a worse fate than what I might receive," Shoto straightened again, "And I need you to keep them from going after Nana. If the blame is all on me they won't try to find her. Please, Izuku, there's no changing the path I've decided to take, all I can do is ask that you help manage the damages."

Izuku searched his face and a few more tears came with it. He was always more prone to emotional displays than other Mages and even though Shoto's chest ached with want to show an ounce of what Izuku did, he kept it under guard and pushed it down with the rest of the horrors in his heart.

"No," he finally responded.

"Izuku, please-"

"No," Izuku stomped his foot, "I won't sit around at the Center Magesterium waiting for you to come home a Fallen Mage! No...I'll come with you. I'll find another way."

"There is no other-"

"Stop!" Izuku got right in his face, determined, "I won't accept that… I won't stop you either, because after everything I've heard today I'm afraid that I'm starting to believe you; that this may be the only thing that could end this Summoning. But if there's another way I want to help you find it. And if there is no other option then I'll bring you back to the Magesterium myself and I'll defend you with everything I have!"

Shoto's jaw fell loose and any response got stuck in his throat. It was nothing like what he expected, but at the same time it was so like Izuku he wondered why he ever thought he would do anything different. Izuku followed his heart and never looked back. It was easy to see how he had formulated a bond with Ochako and Eijiro. The fool had probably tried to save the Renegade Mage from herself. He probably tried to preach to her and make her come to the Magesterium as a willing disciple.

And he was doing the same thing now. He was trying to save Shoto from himself. Determined to find a way out, to show him to the light when there was none left to be found.

"Izuku, I can't let you put yourself in this situation," Shoto tried to dissuade his decision, though he hoped he wouldn't hear it, hear fully warmed by the thought of Izuku staying with him, "You have what every Mage wants; you have a place at the Center Magesterium, you are on the path to the High Circle. You can't throw that away on a meager chance to save me from a fate that has already been determined. I've already committed the crime, if I quit now I would still be guilty."

"So what if you are?" Izuku said firmly, "I'd never forgive myself if I let you take this on alone. Besides...I'm already missing in action. I was supposed to report back to the Center Magesterium days ago. I'm already past being saved from my master's wrath. I'll be put in my place either way."

"But-"

"Enough," Izuku huffed, "I'm not going to hear it. I won't condone it, but I want to help. This is obviously more serious than Synod protocol. Ending this war takes precedence and I'd rather be a part of it than be trapped at the Center Magesterium twiddling my thumbs. Besides, I've never heard of a Mage becoming Magestrate by playing it safe."

There was a smile on Izuku's face, sort of masking the unpleasant topic that underwrote the conversation. Even Shoto felt a slight twinge on the corner of his mouth at watching the determination in Izuku's stance, a physical show that he wouldn't be told no, his lesser height meaning little to nothing in him making his point clear.

All Shoto could really do was lower his head in a slow nod to show both that he accepted Izuku's decision and that he was grateful. There was an ease in his heart to know that there would be another of his own among them, especially since he knew what Shoto had done and was sticking around despite it. It gave a sense of hopefulness that Shoto never expected to feel again.

With light beginning to fade on the day and even the soldier's below putting away their swords for the night, Shoto nodded towards the door for them to return to the others. Izuku walked at his side this time, an easy silence between them now instead of that burning tension. The guards in the halls eyed them, cautious as they were of their guests, but Shoto didn't care.

"You still think you'll be Magestrate someday?" Shoto hummed nostalgically on the last point Izuku slipped into the conversation.

"I'm not an idiot, Shoto," Izuku shrugged one shoulder, "I know it takes a certain amount of luck and influence in the High Circle to get there, but if anyone can make it happen…" there was an endearing smugness in his grin, "Let's just say it's going to be me and I'll take bets on it. I'll do it despite you if I have to."

Izuku's elbow nudged Shoto's side and the taller mage exhaled with amusement. It felt so much like the old days at the Magesterium, even the uncertain looks from those around them making it feel oddly like home. The only real difference was that Shoto wasn't wishing Izuku would just disappear and bother somebody else like he remembered feeling constantly when the mage would try to talk to him in the hallways on their way to their studies every single day. It was amazing what a few month's in an earthbound hell could change about a person's perspective.

Jealousies aside, Shoto regretted the time he'd spent trying to avoid Izuku when they were younger. Shoto didn't have many options in friends and he really should have been more accepting towards the one person who had gone out of his way to be friends with him.

But fate was giving him another chance to make up for that, to do better, to refocus his priorities, to appreciate what he had while he still had it. Fate was sometimes merciful and the people he was allowing in his life now were all representations of that.

Shoto smiled very lightly to himself, heart at peace, despite the overhanging threats and uncertainties of their situation.

"I have no doubt you will."


	16. A Cold Past and Bitter Future

It was dark when the party had finally settled into their accommodations as amicably as they could. That was the same time that Lord Natsuo's aid came to retrieve Katsuki and Shoto from their plans of sleep to respond to the beckoning of their warden in this prison they called guestrooms. For those they left behind in the rooms it was nerve wracking to watch them leave, but it was worse to be the one who had to convince the young Lord of their validity, especially when Shoto knew it was a lie.

Katsuki had briefly discussed escape plans with Nana and Shoto after he'd returned with Izuku and everyone had taken the time to settle down and let the earlier tension dissipate. But there was going to be very little that they could do if Natsuo chose not to believe them and to stop them instead. He had a Keep full of men at his disposal and an army at his doorstep with a strong Synod cohort in his backyard. There was only so much preparation they could do to fight that.

Both of them remained the pinnacle of unaffected as they followed the aid back into the war chambers, despite the internal dialogue not matching the facade. Katsuki had that aggressive look that told of his confidence and inability to be pushed down and Shoto had the regal eye of a proud Synod Mage about him. No one could have guessed how their heads swirled with so much anxiety.

Within the chambers they found the Lord Commander, unchanged from how they had left him, still in the heavy white trimmed cloak, befitting the colder climate here, and still with the perturbed expression of a man with too much responsibility on his plate.

Lord Natsuo stood away from the mapped table and Commander Tensei was at his side, speaking softly. But there was another addition to their judges this time and Shoto clammed up down to his toes when he saw the Synod robes and crest of a Headmaster on his proud shoulders. A dirty blond head of hair sat over a youthful face and his mouth twisted in a smug grin while his dark eyes told that the look was normal for him. The fact that he stood half a head shorter than the other two men did nothing to diminish him and Shoto couldn't help feel that he too would be challenged to face him.

Katsuki threw Shoto a wide glance, but didn't comment on it as he crossed arms at the Lord Commander and sucked his teeth at him, playing confidence and petulance over all else.

"Captain, Master," Lord Natsuo acknowledged their entrance, cutting off Tensei from his whispering.

"You wanted to speak with us?" Shoto kept looking at the Mage, but spoke to the Lord.

"I wanted to discuss what we talked about before with the addition of Headmaster Kiego Takami," Natsuo explained, gracefully moving towards them, commanding the very room with a look and a motion.

Shoto fought the urge to step back as he moved closer to them. The Headmaster stayed the same distance, more than satisfied to eye them from there.

"Who? That kid over there?" Katsuki threw a jerking motion at Keigo, "Some Headmaster, he doesn't look tough enough to fight a chicken."

Shoto's lip twitched and he glared at Katsuki for that, knowing better than to judge a Mage by their appearance or age. The last thing they needed was a conflict on their hands, but Katsuki was always ready to make some, no matter the day or time.

"The Dawnfelden Captain, I'm guessing," Headmaster Keigo raised an eyebrow to Tensei to confirm his guess and the Commander nodded.

"I would ask you to show some respect to the Headmaster," Natsuo's brow creased, then softened with a roll of his eyes, "But I'm not one to show him any myself so I won't bother."

He threw a glare back at the Headmaster, who hit him with a grin and Shoto frowned surprise at the unexpected expression from a Synod Mage of such standing; from a Mage whose name was known before many would even consider him a man.

"It's always nice to know lack of respect is mutual," Keigo eyed him, amused, "Ah, you keep me young with your banter, little lord."

"I'm older than you," Natsuo frowned.

"Years don't always make a man," Keigo shrugged.

Shoto found himself stuck with a disbelieving frown on the Headmaster, surprised by the back and forth; hardly considering that it was not much better than how he spoke to Katsuki.

The Captain seemed oddly at ease with it, though, the smallest hint of a grin in the corner of his mouth. "Nice to see that some things are the same everywhere you go," Katsuki huffed air through his nose.

"I take it you have some of your own frustrations with the Mages in Dawnfell," Natsuo's stance shifted to something almost casual, less of a threatening glare hanging over Katsuki than before.

Shoto expected to once again be the butt of Katsuki's venting, but it didn't come, if anything he was being ignored.

"I'll stand by the Griffin Cohort 'til my dying breath as the best out there," Katsuki said, "But the amount of times I wanted to rip the ears off Mirko's head are as high as the time I wanted to shake her hand."

"She's as good as they say?" Keigo raised an eyebrow at the Captain.

"Better. You don't make it in Dawnfell by being anything but the best."

"Our standards are the same in Tarlson, Captain," Commander Tensei added, "Dawnfell is not the only place in Gaetha where strength is valued above all else."

"Tarlson's strength is famed," Katsuki shrugged, unimpressed, "Famed as second to Dawnfell."

Tensei's feathers were a bit ruffled at the comment, but he kept his cool.

"You believe our pride is false, don't you, Captain Katsuki?" Natsuo tilted his head, "That we aren't equal to you because we wash the mud off of our boots and keep civil homes. We have borders to protect the same as you; we have Cantica to the West and the Capitol to the North."

"Petty conflicts in comparison," Katsuki sucked his teeth again.

Natsuo was unaffected, but not prepared to budge on his set idea of his own prowess.

"And therein lies your only claim to superiority," he opened a palm towards Katsuki, "That tou sit at the border of No Man's Land. Because you are the first to fight the Demon onslaught you are somehow said to be stronger, that is the truly unfair comparison, because you have an opportunity we do not. We would be no less effective if we bordered Demon's Rise."

Red crept up Katsuki's neck and Shoto wondered if he would be cleaning up a bloody mess in moments, but the glare turned to a smug smile, ruby eyes unstoppable against immovable grays.

"So you say and yet we, Dawnfeldens as we are, walked into your home and handled your Demon problem before you could even arrive at the battle. Blame location all you want, you're right that it's what makes Dawnfell what it is, but the location doesn't make us heard more, it makes us what we are." The bantering tone dropped to something severe and serious, "You can't know what it is to protect your Lordship from something like that, to know that if you fail, it's your people who will be the first to taste blood and the first to fall under the total genocide that follows the ether. You can fear for your people when under attack by man or elf or whatever else this world can throw at you, but there is no fear like knowing the types of horrors the Archdemon brings with it."

The Lord was silent, watchfully listening to Katsuki's small rant and how the angry vicious act slipped for a genuine, pained admittance of something even Shoto hadn't fully considered. Dawnfell fought with the severity it did because it had to just to survive. While Lordships like Tarlson sat a few thousand miles away from the fronts, a nation of people, military, mages, and civilians all had made lives and homes not thirty miles from the most gruesome and horrifying threat known to their mortal world. Dawnfell stood tallest because they were fighting in a desperation that Tarlson could never truly understand.

This could easily have spurred another argument or even a civil discussion about the problems each Lordship uniquely faced, but both Shoto and Keigo had equal impatience to get on with the actual point of the meeting. Shoto was far more concerned with knowing whether or not the Lord was going to release them in the morning than which Lordship had the bigger claim to power.

"While this is a wonderful conversation for a bunch of politically minded, fat gutted, poets to sit around and debate endlessly in a never ending circle, I don't recall this being why I was called here," Keigo rolled his eyes at the two men staring each other down.

Natsuo continued to match stares with Katsuki a moment longer without response before putting out a hand towards Shoto. The Mage watched the hand then felt his gut clench when he looked up to Natsuo's face.

"Your orders," Natsuo demanded, clarifying his request.

In a scrambled search of his robes, Shoto pulled out the folded papers and placed them back into Natsuo's hand with a slight tremble. Natsuo seemed to notice it, or at least notice the way he kept glancing at the other mage. He stared at him with an increasingly quizzical eye. Then he abruptly turned away and handed the paper to Headmaster Keigo.

The Headmaster gave the page a once-over and then stared hard at the bottom assessing the signature and then nodded with an impressed look over his face.

"Master Sochi, huh?" he folded it up.

"The orders are real?" Natsuo asked as he took the page back.

"I've seen too many orders from Master Sochi Tanen to mistake his signature," Keigo nodded, "I get new Mages every few months with papers to this exact effect. It's real. I don't suggest you continue holding up an assignment from the Center Magesterium, Lord."

Shoto and Katsuki looked to each other with total relief, but only let it last a split second before they were themselves again.

"Great, now that you confirmed what we already fucking told you, let us get out of here," Katsuki demanded.

Commander Tensei tilted his head at Lord Natsuo with a raised eyebrow while he scowled down at the folded page and hesitated to acknowledge the Captain. His expression was thoughtful and did nothing to comfort them.

"You will be free to leave in the morning as we agreed before," He slapped the orders to Shoto's chest as he walked past him.

Katsuki spun on him. "Didn't the damn mage tell you you shouldn't delay a Synod assignment?"

Natsuo stopped at the door and angled a vicious look back at Katsuki, but then left it more pointedly on Keigo and Shoto

"The day a Mage tells me how to run my own Keep is the day I lose my damn mind," he bit, "The Synod will have my support, but you will do as I have already ordered."

Before Natsuo could even open the door to leave on that sour note or be stopped by further complaint of his guests, it burst open in front of him to reveal his aid who rushed in breathless.

"Lord, you must come immediately," the aid said, "Your father requests your presence in the Grand Hall."

"What's going on?" Natsuo scowled over the man.

The aid looked over the others present and shook his head, "I wasn't told other than that someone has arrived to speak with you and your father."

"Fine, tell him I'll be there," Natsuo shooed him away and then turned a slight head bow towards the others, "Excuse me, I'm required elsewhere. Tensei, Headmaster, see that our guests are taken care of until the morning."

"Of course," Tensei bowed after him.

Keigo gave a dismissive wave of his hand as Natsuo took his leave and swung the door shut behind him.

Shoto found himself continuing to stare after him, mixed up in confusion. It was just so hard to describe or pin the young Lord down. Apprehension sat constantly in his gut just thinking about him; there was no way of predicting him or how he would respond to anything.

It seemed Katsuki had the same, scoffing annoyance and looked back to the Commander.

"Must be a real joy following being his Second," Katsuki's nose crinkled.

Shoto expected a harsh response from Tensei, expecting a very defensive bark of support towards his Lord Commander as Katsuki would often do with Lord Kan, even after they had a disagreement, but Tensei watched after the closed door with a frown and then a shake of his head.

"He is human; we all are," Tensei said, "His effectiveness as a leader is not diminished by a loud bark or a painful bite. You should know that better than anyone. I have seen your armies train in Dawnfell, a brutal hand sometimes works best."

Katsuki crossed his arms at the Commander. "It's not the aggression, of course I like that. It's the part where he's suddenly acting civil and then he's quiet and then-"

"The Lord Commander is perfectly fine," the defensiveness they had expected suddenly popped up in Tensei's voice, "Do not continue this insinuation."

Shoto pulled his eyes away from the door to meet an equally unconvinced look from Katsuki. The response felt suspicious, far too defensive to be anything but a cover for some unsaid truth.

"And what am I insinuating?" Katsuki shot back, showing teeth.

Tensei's hands turned to fists, but Keigo smirked.

"You're saying he's insane," the mage filled in the gap, "And you'd be right about that."

"Bite your tongue, Keigo," Tensei spat, "You are not immune to the Todoroki wrath because you are Synod, if anything you should fear them more than the rest of us."

Keigo laughed. "Come now, Enji loves me."

"You bother him at ungodly hours and annoy him to the point of wanting to kill you daily," Tensei clarified, "I've heard him mutter to himself daily how he would rather cut off his ears than listen to you another day."

"And yet his ears remain and here I am, still alive to infuriate him tomorrow," Keigo smirked, "That's the difference between you and I, Commander; charm. You'd be missing your ears were you to try him as I do."

Shoto couldn't quite care about this divergence in conversation and he was discovering more and more that he didn't care for the Headmaster himself either, he wasn't Synod enough in any sense and while that felt hypocritical given the entire situation he had put himself in, he couldn't help be grated by it… by everyone in Tarlson really. Even the Commander, with his sensibility and calm could not comfort him if he tried. He still answered to the man that made his skin crawl when he stood too close.

"And what do you say to such a claim, Headmaster?" Shoto chimed up to veer back to the answers he actually wanted, "You are not so defensive of the Lord as the Commander is."

Tensei gave Keigo a look that could have killed a weaker man, but the Mage met it with a clicked tongue and crossed arms.

"Well I wouldn't call him entirely sane, myself, but he comes by it honestly so I have no ill will towards him for it," Keigo kept looking Tensei right in the eye as he said it and the Commander's hand went to his sword.

Shoto pulled back a little, but Katsuki took closer interest in the previously level headed man turning to threats and a blatant anger towards one who was technically on his own side.

"You've said more than enough, Headmaster," Tensei bit the air, "Take your leave now or I will make you."

The grin spreading across Keigo's face was demeaning as was the tsking sound he made. "Ah, Commander, I'd love nothing more than to test you, but I do have a Seat to run and Cohorts to lead, so I will take your generous offer to leave. The Lord has already taken up too much of my valuable time on this."

Tensei straightened and dropped his hand, jerking his head towards the door. Keigo offered a small head bow and moved towards Shoto and Katsuki, pausing to give a respectful nod to them as well.

"Captain," Keigo nodded at Katsuki and then turned a grin to Shoto, "If you have time before you leave, Master Shoto, I would be very interested in talking further with you. I heard about what happened in Landsleave and at Demon's Rise and I'm intrigued."

Shoto stiffened under his stare, those eyes sweeping up and down the younger Mage. There was something conniving behind the friendly smile and Shoto was instantly wary of a Synod Mage wanting to know more about those two particular events, so riddled with Fallen Magic.

"We don't have the time," Shoto responded in a harsh tone, still put off by the casual and seemingly manipulative nature of this lauded Synod Master.

"A shame," Keigo shrugged, "You and I represent a new era of the Synod, of the young having power and influence rather than just old worn out Mages. It would be beneficial for us to form a friendship, especially after what I've heard about you. Whenever you conclude your assignment, make some time to speak with me. You won't regret the detour."

Despite knowing he would never do so and perhaps would never be able to, Shoto nodded agreement, if for no other reason than to make the Headmaster let him be. And it seemed to satisfy him enough to take his leave, but just as he passed Shoto's side, he grabbed him by the shoulder and whispered close to his ear, obvious to the other eyes watching and almost pointed with the way Tensei glared at him for it.

"Make him tell you about the young Lord," Keigo said, "You may understand Tarlson a bit better if you do."

And with that he was gone and a heady tension took his place between two men left hanging in their questions with the man who seemed loath to answer them.

Tensei cursed aloud and moved the few steps over to lean into the war table, crossing his arms at the floor.

"I'm going back to the rooms," Katsuki hissed, his anger surface level, "This meeting was a waste of time."

"Calm yourself, Captain," Shoto demanded, hoping not to start a new conflict when one had just ended.

"It's not a waste if you consider the benefit of having Tarlson's support," Tensei flicked his wrist at them, "It is not the Lord's first inclination to align with you or anyone like you, but the Todorokis are not so foolish as to cross the Synod. Lord Natsuo simply wanted to confirm that you were who you said you were before allowing you to walk free in his Lordship. In these times of corruption and war, you can understand I'm sure."

"What the hell else would we be?" Katsuki was exasperated, "You knew who I was before you brought me here.

Tensei let one of his eyebrows drift up at the Captain as he should have known better than to have asked the question. "Respect and trust are not always complimentary sentiments. Even if it's hidden under jealous words and insults, there is respect between Tarlson and Dawnfell, but that cannot be mistaken for affection or a questionless trust. Even the presence of the acclaimed Conqueror of the South is not an endorsement in and of itself. Traitors and Fallen Mages can hide among us unseen and guise themselves cleverly. We hold particular caution towards Mages in Tarlson for that exact reason."

Offense pricked Shoto's neck, both for the accuracy and the insinuation. His palms tightened with a clammy sweat. "What gives Tarlson the right to be so untrusting of Mages?" Shoto bit, "The issue of the Fallen is the Synod's and no one elses."

"It is everyone's business to be wary and there is not always a Synod trained Master on hand to dispatch a necromancer at any given moment," Tensei said sharply and then sighed, letting his head drop into a shake and a sigh, "I do not mean to be harsh, but there is an unpleasant history with Mages in Tarlson."

"I thought everyone had a bad history with Mages," Katsuki rolled his eyes, "The whole, holier-than-thou thing gets old fast."

It was hard to contain himself from arguing with the Captain about that, to make the point that a claim like that was unfounded since Mages as a species were in fact far less holy than others and thus required more acts of holiness to recompense for it. But it wasn't the time to debate an opinion that the Captain wouldn't likely change and Katsuki seemed more than ready to turn anything into an uncouth argument at the drop of a hat right now.

There wasn't such bare annoyance from Tensei while Katsuki did whatever he could to antagonize simply everyone in the room. But the Commander's shoulders were still sloping forward and his eyes remained in burdened slits on the floor.

"Were that the case, Captain, we wouldn't keep twice the number of Mages as any other Keep within our walls," his brow tightened intensely, "I'm sure Master Shoto could fill you in as to why."

Shoto darted glances between them and shook his head, wide eyed while Katsuki searched out an answer in his face. "I have no idea what you mean."

Tensei seemed surprised, but shrugged. "I assumed Mages spread gossip through their circles as other courts do. It's true then that you truly do never speak of a disavowed Mage or of your own roots?"

"The disavowed are only spoken of in necessity," Shoto blinked surprised at Tensei's assumption, "We don't gossip. We may tell a cautionary tale of a Fallen mage to warn of what becomes of them or give needed information to one another, but that is all. But are you saying that Tarlson is so overcautious because a Synod Mage here was disavowed?"

Tensei hesitated to answer and Katsuki slipped in first.

"What does a Mage have to do to get disavowed? Forget to brush off his boots before walking inside?"

Shoto gave him a glare that said he knew he was only just trying to get a rise out of him, especially because they both knew it was a possible ending to Shoto's own adventure with the Captain and Nana.

"Many things can cause the Synod to reject a Mage, but all of them are drastic," Shoto explained, "It is equivalent to banishment, except that there is a complete denial of the personhood of such a man and vowed silence on the tongues of his fellow Mages. It can be punishment for murder, betraying the Synod, or-"

"Fallen Magic," Tensei finished and Shoto clinched down to his toes.

"Fallen Magic," Shoto repeated with a nod and frowned at the thought, "How did it happen?"

"I thought you weren't supposed to speak of the disavowed," Tensei huffed air out of his nose and pushed away from the war table, taking a slow pace of the room.

"It is not so much a rule as a guideline," Shoto shrugged one shoulder, "It's meant as a way to show disrespect to a person's memory. That being said, information is important and I wish to know what has made you all so wary of the Synod."

The Commander shook his head up at the ceiling, before spinning back on them.

"To be fair, I'm shocked neither of you know already," he said, "The Synod may not gossip but every noble in the land does. The 'mystery' of what became of the Lord's son is the worst kept secret in Gaetha." He considered a moment then gave a passive nod, "But I suppose it was before either of your time."

"The Lord's son?" Katsuki jerked up an eyebrow, "So, Lord Natsuo?"

"No, the eldest son," Tensei shook his head, "Touy- well, the firstborn, heir of Tarlson."

"There was no mention of a second Todoroki son when we studied the ruling families at the Magesterium," Shoto looked for confirmation from Katsuki, but he just shrugged.

"Well, then the Synod must be quite thorough in their disavowing," Tensei nodded, impressed.

"I don't care about the politics of other Lordships," Katsuki added, "All I need to know is who is in charge and who I'm answering to wherever I am."

"Well then what happened to the eldest?" Shoto narrowed his eyes at the Commander, "Was he killed by the disavowed Mage?"

Tensei grit his teeth and glanced at the door, a nervous action around a topic that made him visibly uncomfortable. "He _was_ the disavowed Mage, Master Shoto."

White noise rushed Shoto's ears as the Commander's words settled in his ears and ever so slightly broke his entire perception of the world.

"That makes no sense," Shoto tried to correct him, "A Mage, definitionally, does not have a family to associate itself with."

"Except for the Renegade Mages, the Bog Mages, Mages from the elf tribes…" Katsuki started listing.

"You speak of heathens and those too selfish and foolish to see what keeping a Mage from the Synod will do," Shoto snapped, "The Commander is speaking of the son of a Lord. A Lord would not be so idiotic as to keep a Mage from the Synod."

Tensei actually laughed, it was mirthless and cold and sent a chill up Shoto's spine.

"You have spent too long in the Magesteriums to still think the world is so practical and straightforward," Tensei tsked, "A Lord, more than anyone, would be the first to hesitate loosing hands on a child Mage. And a firstborn male heir? It was absolutely foolish in its own right and we can all see clearly that it was an outright mistake, but I was no more than a child myself and even my own father took Lord Enji's side in hiding the boy and his power from the Synod. My family took a degree of blame and accepted punishment for those actions just as the Todorokis did. They were all taught well never to hide a child from the Synod again..."

Shoto couldn't help the wad of rage in his chest. A Lord of all people should know better than to withhold a Mage from the Synod.

"I can guess what happened," Shoto hissed, "The boy had no proper direction and his powers turned to evil."

"They thought-"

"They always think that they can teach a Mage themselves to handle their power," Shoto's hands were tight fists, "But it's never enough, they don't teach temperance… that's why they Fall. No one thinks to teach them to be satisfied with the power they have. An untrained Mage will always want more!"

Tensei frowned hard at Shoto and his mouth was tight, before his face dropped.

"Be that as it may," he said quietly, "his intentions were good when he found Fallen Magic."

Shoto bit his cheek. His own intentions and those of Nana were considered good in their pursuit of Fallen Magic, but it did not make his approach to Tensei's defense any less harsh. Most Fallen Mages did not have the moral compass that had been ingrained in him nor the intention to face consequences for what had been done.

"It always seems that way," Shoto countered, "The Fallen are a twisted sort. There's something selfish underlying most of those intentions."

Katsuki eyed Shoto with a dark glare and it felt like that same day he had first seen him use Blood Magic all over again. There was harsh judgment in those red eyes and it stung terribly.

The Commander, though, was not to be shamed for these old crimes; he was resolute and paced the room heftily.

"He was a boy," Tensei argued, "A boy who loved his mother and feared for her. He did what he thought he had to and without a real Mage guiding him he simply turned the wrong way."

"Feared for her from what?" Katsuki looked around as though the answer were in the air, "If she was in danger Lord Enji should have protected her himself."

"She couldn't be protected from internal dangers," the Commander stared down the Captain, "She birthed the twins some five years after her first son and the three of them were raised with me and my brother like siblings. I understood what he felt when miscarriage followed stillbirth again and again and the once strong woman started to rip at the seams. Rei loved nothing more in the world than her children and every person in the Keep started to fear every time we would see the hope in her eyes of announcing another pregnancy. They always ended the same."

Katsuki didn't have a comment on that, but there was a tiny ache in Shoto's chest; sympathy towards this woman he had never met for an experience he could never have. But the way it hurt Tensei just to recall it was clear. Rei must have been much like a mother to him as well. He was talking about the Todorokis, but he was also talking about his family.

"What did he do…?" Shoto's brow was furrowed and eyes stuck to the floor, "What could he possibly have done?"

"What he thought he had to do…"

Tensei's softly spoken response was cut short by a rapping on the door and the immediate entry of the Lord's aid following it. He was tousled like all he had done the last hour was run place to place. He let his mouth gape open at the Commander stuck, about to speak, and looking over the others in the room with hesitance.

"Go ahead, they can be trusted," Tensei gave a dismissive wave and tilted his head at the aid.

"Commander, your brother has returned," the aid gasped, "He- he comes accompanied by the Gaethan Heir… the princess."

All thoughts about Tensei's tale were dashed in the light of this sudden news. Even Katsuki, who had been so ready to get himself back to his room, gave the announcement his full interest.

"What?" Tensei shook his head, "Why? What happened in the Capitol?"

"I do not know, Commander," the aid was out of breath, "But please come swiftly. Lord Enji requests your presence in the Great hall."

Tensei threw a glance back at the Captain and the Mage and frowned. "Please return to your room."

Before Shoto could readily agree to step out of the way, Katsuki broke him off, and moved quickly after Tensei.

"I know how things work in a Keep, Commander," he said, "It's a public audience if it takes place in the hall and unless the Lord orders otherwise, you can't stop us from being present."

"Captain, I don't think-"

"Mage," Katsuki snapped at Shoto, "Shove it. This isn't a meager Tarlson dispute. The fucking heir to the throne is here and I'm going to fucking hear why."

Tensei cursed under his breath, but didn't argue, likely knowing that he couldn't stop them now that they were considered guests instead of prisoners. The two military leaders fell in step behind the aid, but Shoto hesitated, simply confused at the sudden drastic turn this discussion had taken.

Still hung up on what Tensei had said of the eldest Todoroki he blinked around himself in a daze, struggling to just get past the growing discomfort of even speaking about Fallen Magic under these circumstances. But Katsuki was right, it was no small thing for the only heir to the Gaethan throne to be present in the Tarlson Keep and it would be foolish not to at least go to the hall to listen.

Shoto took off after them, a curse fresh and sharp on his breath.

"You're going to be fine sleeping by yourself?"

Eijiro gave an encouraging smile,patting the sides of the provided pillow then sitting back on the feathered mattress.

"We prefer sleeping together, we aren't going to die to be away from each other," Eijiro explained, "I'm more worried about her being away from us. If she's found out we won't be able to protect her as easily."

"From what I've seen she's fairly capable of protecting herself," Izuku shrugged, "And if we hear something across the hall we can be there quickly. But we'll have nothing to worry about if she keeps her mouth."

Eijiro laid back on the bed and frowned as he spread out and tried to fill the entire thing with himself. "She really hates that."

"I've noticed," he sighed into his own seat facing Eijiro across the small space between their beds, "I hope she doesn't take it too badly. I don't want her to be upset with me."

"She's not," The dragon shook his head, "She's just upset at all of this, I think. She's way more angry with me right now…"

Izuku's brow knotted together.

"It's been so hectic since we arrived back in Landsleave, but I never asked, why did you follow us? I thought you were going to look after Ochako's parents."

"They aren't the ones in danger," A severe pout overtook his face, "The demons are gone and there's a whole army helping. Usually the village could use my help rebuilding, but I can't be in my true form while the army is there. My place is with Ochako, protecting her and her watching out for me. That's how it's always been."

"You make a fair point, but you can't be a dragon here either, so there's still a limit to what you can do," Izuku pushed up to pace lightly, "Are you sure there you can maintain that form indefinitely?"

"Of course," Eijiro waved it off, "It's a magical act to look like this and takes a magical act to undo it. It's not holding with a continually active spell. The spell is done and this is just how I am until I change it."

"And this whole mission that Shoto is taking on...what do think about that?"

"I grew up on a farm, Izuku," Eijiro pushed up and crossed his legs, "I don't know all the little details about war and Summonings outside of what Ochako has told me and I'm pretty sure that's just common knowledge. I know I trust you and I think I trust Shoto too. If you believe what he's doing is right then I'm with you, we both are.."

"No," Izuku's hand cut the air, "When we're released you and Ochako are going home or back to Blackmoss."

"But-"

"No, buts," Izuku hated being so sharp, but the very idea of Eijiro trying to get himself and Ochako involved shook Izuku to the core, "It's not safe. You need to go home. Shoto and his friends won't stop you. They know you wouldn't tell the authorities or the Synod; you'd be risking being found out yourselves. They're way more concerned about me. And I need to help Shoto… I have to find a way to stop this from happening."

His chest felt like bricks as he became too interested in the floor at his feet.

"You think there's another way?"

Izuku chewed his cheek. "I have to hope there is. I have to try."

Before he could pick his head back up he heard quick shuffling and then his entire torso was being crushed in inhumanly strong arms knocking the wind out of him. He gasped and startled, but eased once the hug gave a little.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

"You seem sad," Eijiro kept holding on, shrugging, "Is this helping?"

"A little actually," Izuku's tone was bewildered, "It doesn't really fix anything, but…"

But the contact was still so refreshing and fulfilling that he couldn't help the rush of warmth overwhelming his Synod sensibilities and his prominent fears.

"Thanks, Eijiro," he sighed, "Even if this whole situation is terrible...I'm really glad I get extra time with you and Ochako. Even if it's just another day."

"Me too," he nodded onto his shoulder, "I've been hiding from Synod Mages and soldiers and hunters my whole life and now I've met two really great Synod Mages and even a nice soldier."

Izuku frowned and tried to give him a side glare despite the hug and angle.

"You can't possibly mean the Captain?"

Eijiro pulled free of the embrace and the immense weight on Izuku's chest seemed to go with him. His scepticism remained though. The boy pinched the sides of his shirt and shrugged.

"He gave me something to wear," Eijiro explained, "He didn't have to do that. It was very nice."

"He's threatened to kill us," Izuku's arms went up, "Nice people don't threaten to rip your head off your shoulders."

"Well, I think you're both making sense."

The two spun towards the door and found a head of blond hair sneakily slipping in with a wry grin on his elfish face. It was the Solstice elf, Denki.

"He's a major dick," Denki sauntered in and went to the pack by his bed while he spoke, "But he's got his soft spots. Mina's keeps saying she's determined to find them."

"Where did you come from?" Izuku blinked.

Denki jammed a thumb at the door and continued to rummage. "Of course, at first she wouldn't go within ten feet of him, what with him almost brutally killing her and all, but she's someone who respects strength so the longer we're with him the more I'm worried she might try to leave me for him actually."

A small pouch came into his hand while he laughed out loud and dropped it onto the floor. It unrolled in a small clatter as fine tools were revealed in secured rows. The elf tapped his lip thoughtfully at them.

Izuku was an absolute mess of questions, but Eijiro moved over to him before he could and crouched to see the tools.

"What are you doing?"

A suspicious grin turned up at Eijiro and then went back to the tools as he selected a few.

"Going to steal something."

"What?" Izuku was taken aback.

"Isn't that a crime?" Eijiro frowned.

"Yep," Denki rolled the case back up, "Want to help?"

"Why would we do that?" Izuku gaped.

"Lack of trust mainly," Denki stood up, "To have an edge on our captors. Shoto is convincing and Katsuki's… sort of professional, but I don't know if they'll actually convince the Tarlson Lord to let us go so I'd like some leverage, wouldn't you agree?"

"I thought we were guests?" Eijiro tilted his head at Denki.

"We're as much guests as a caged bird is free," the elf laughed.

"He has a point," Izuku was loath to admit, "There's no guarantee they will be able to convince them… But I don't like the idea of stealing either."

"Even if what we're stealing is a Blood Mage's staff?"

Izuku and Eijiro both went silent and traded looks.

"A Blood Mage staff?" Izuku repeated.

"So the guys in the mess tell me," Denki smuggly gave his nails a once over, "They say it's fully tainted and no one has touched it in almost twenty years. It's obviously valued by the Todorokis, so either we can barter with it or...well we have two Blood Mages who could put it to good use I'm sure."

A shiver went up Izuku's spine hearing Shoto referred to as a Blood Mage.

"That sounds dangerous," Eijiro shifted energetically and darted glances at Izuku to gauge what he was thinking about all this, "But...valuable?"

Izuku pursed his lips in uncertainty, but Denki's patience had run out.

"The guard pattern is right for me to do this if I go now," Denki looked at the shifting lights under the door, "In or out?"

"We're going," Izuku half choked.

Eijiro went wide eyed at him, but smiled, as surprised as Izuku was that he'd said yes. Denki winked at them and jerked his head towards the door for them to go.

Izuku was sure he was making a mistake, but his impulse had gotten him this far, so maybe something valuable would come from this.

Sneaking through the guard's quarters unseen seemed like an impossible task until he was following the deft, limber steps of a rather skeevy elf. They took every step with care, but Denki didn't have to, his delicate footfalls never making a sound, which made sense why he was able to slip in earlier without either of them noticing.

With no great lack of luck and the precision of the elf they made it to the end of the West wing and left the guard quarters behind them. They took up a casual pace now that they were out, hiding in plain sight. Most who wandered this part of the Keep were servants and nobles who wouldn't know them as long as they acted as though they belonged.

It did come as a surprise when they made their way deep into the North wing and passed what seemed to be the living quarters of the reigning family. Their stealth came back into play as there were posted guards here and Izuku's heart pounded in his chest with every inch forward that they moved.

"Just ahead," Denki nodded at the door at the end of the hall they were about to turn down.

They all stopped full when they saw the guards posted before it and noticed that there was no way to sneak around them. They would have to go through them and Izuku was beginning to rethink leaving his room altogether.

"What do we do?" Eijiro asked.

"Wait." Denki tapped his lip and then pointed to the open array of windows along the hallway leading to the door.

As he did a wisping flutter of fabric fell into view from the just outside of the window. It caught the guard's attention the same as theirs. They were instantly alert and Denki held a hand for the others not to move an inch.

They came to the window cautiously, swords drawn and ready to use.

Denki was poised to move, but he signalled Izuku and Eijiro to stay where they were.

As the guard started to lean out of the window something moved in the one next to it very delicately and a steaming bottle was placed on the windowsill. The smoke grew with every passing second and a good gust of wind whipped it into the room.

They both noticed it too late, losing their balance and leg strength after a few mere seconds.

Denki took a large inhale and pulled the swath of fabric that wrapped around his neck over his face. He was on the guards in a moment and suddenly a pink skinned body was with him, darting in through the window as each caught a guard and carefully lowered them to the ground without any undo sound.

The other figure snatched the bottle and corked it quickly before pocketing it and Denki rushed back over to them, dropping his mask.

"Let's go," he waved for them to follow.

"Wait, what did you do to them?" Izuku looked between the two fallen guards and the elf.

"Just knocked them out, we aren't assassins," Denki shrugged and jabbed a finger towards the other cloaked figure, "You can't top Moondance concoctions, though."

The mask and hood dropped on the other figure, revealing it to be Mina, the Moondancer, which was hardly surprising. There was no one else here that's skin shone that color.

"Wow, you're amazing," Eijiro gasped at them.

"Tell me something I don't know," Denki jerked his head towards the door and led them past the unconscious guards.

Mina was already assessing the lock. Her hand went up to Denki as she eyed it by torchlight and he dropped the tools he grabbed from the pack into it.

"This lock is no joke," she slid the tools at opposing angles into the lock and began to move and twist them slowly, "So rude. It's as if they don't want us to see what interesting things they have."

Denki chuckled and gestured for the other two to stick close.

"Do you do this sort of thing a lot?" Eijiro watched Mina over Izuku's shoulder.

"As often as we need," Denki whispered, "It's good to be versatile in our line of work."

"And what line of work is that?" Izuku narrowed scepticism at him.

The two elves gave short, breathy laughs as a reply and looked back to the lock, passing over answering the question.

"Got it!" Mina cheered quietly as a click sounded from the door and it suddenly pushed loose.

Denki snatched a torch from the wall as they opened it up, giving low illumination throughout the room from the torch he carried. Mina went to the multiple windows on the circular room and pulled open the curtains to allow the strong moonlight through.

The whole place was eerie and not like the sort of vault Izuku expected. He and Eijiro spread out in opposite directions in the circular structure of the room after closing the door behind them, but Izuku refrained from going far or touching anything.

"What is this place?" Eijiro voiced the question on Izuku's heart.

There were items that seemed valuable or important within but it was laid out like a normal bedroom, and it had the amenities to match. There was even a bed at the opposite end and a stuffed cloth animal setting against it like a child had slept in it a month ago.

Izuku felt inclined to check it out more than the valuables around and bruschetta finger of the face of the child's toy, coming back with a thick layer of dust.

"What sort of vault is this neglected?" Izuku frowned, having to pass over the far more curious question of the bed and toy.

"It's not technically a vault from what I can tell," Denki shrugged, "Just a creepy locked up room that's never touched. We may be the first people to have stepped in here in years."

Mina sneezed and rubbed her nose. "No shit."

There was a visible shiver from Eijiro and a tight expression overcoming his face the more he perused the room. "Do you feel that?" he sucked in a breath like he was tasting the air.

"Feel what?" Denki was beginning to very delicately rummage and sift through the abundance of items, making still a surprising lack of sound.

"Ether," he said softly, "It feels like the dust. Settled and untouched, stagnant."

"You sound like Shoto," Mina raised an eyebrow as she continued to disturb the dust and search and sneeze.

Try as he might, Izuku felt nothing of what Eijiro said, which wouldn't have seemed strange before, knowing that he was a dragon and had a different sense of the world than the rest of them, but so say that Shoto had been experiencing some of the same senses as Eijiro put Izuku in a confused position. If Shoto could sense the things Eijiro could, shouldn't Izuku as well?

"Is there magic here?" Izuku took a turn, looking around for some spell waiting to trap them or kill them.

"Not active magic," Eijiro moved to the table in the center of the room and brushed off a glass covering, revealing a crystal bird inside of it, "It's like how your staffs are. I feel it in Ochako's room and sometimes in the Bog Mages homes. When a place is exposed to magic long enough it starts seeping in."

Everyone looked up from what they were doing to stare at Eijiro.

"I know enchanted items like staffs give off something like that, but I didn't know unenchanted items could be affected," Izuku tilted his head at him.

"No one seems to realize that," Eijiro shrugged, staring at the bird with interest, "I've never met a Mage that can sense it."

"Aren't you supposed to be a Mage yourself?" Mina wrinkled an eyebrow at him, "According to Shoto and what he told the Tarlsons anyway."

Initially Izuku flinched, but then eased, realizing it was not as scary for Shoto's party to know more about them now that there was some established trust. These elves seemed skeevy, but not the sort to act maliciously. He wouldn't stop Eijiro from saying what he wanted to say.

"Of course not," Eijiro laughed.

"Then what's with the magic sense?" Denki pushed, pausing his search.

Eijiro matched looks with Izuku, but he only shrugged, leaving it up to Eijiro to decide what he wanted to tell them or not. That seemed to confuse him more, but then he popped a smile and looked back to the elves.

"I'm not really human actually," he rubbed his neck, "My species is sort of connected closer than others to the ether."

The elves looked to each other and spoke without words.

"So what are you then?" Denki turned the torchlight towards him to see him better, "Definitely not an elf."

Eijiro hesitated, but Izuku helped him out of the tight spot he didn't want to dive deeper into.

"I thought we were here to steal something," Izuku rubbed his hands, "We should hurry so that we can be gone before the guards wake up."

"Fine, fine," Denki waved it off, "But we'll be coming back to this later."

"If your magic sense is so good, though, can you sense where the staff is?" Mina chimed up with intrigue.

Eijiro's lip popped out in thought and he moved to the outskirts of the room where the items cluttered heavily.

"Maybe. You said it was for a Blood Mage, right?"

"Yes."

With red eyes focussed intently on the edge of the room, he started walking around the circle, eyes on the dust covered items, swords, statues, vases, toys, old brittle cloaks and the like. He didn't go slowly either, just swept through quickly until he came to a full stop and cocked his head.

"Here."

"Izuku," Denki jerked his head at the spot, "Grab it."

"Why me?" Izuku was taken aback.

"It'll look pretty suspicious if any of us are carrying a staff around," Denki opened his hands, "You're our delivery system."

Izuku's stare turned hard on the elf.

"You had me come along just to carry the staff back?"

"Why else would I tell you to come?" Denki snorted.

"Then why did you bring Eijiro?" Izuku couldn't help being a touch offended, "You didn't know he had any magic sense before we left."

"He seemed nice," was Denki's answer.

"I just wanted something pretty to look at," Mina admitted, dropping her elbow on Denki's shoulder with a smirk.

Eijiro gave them a smile, unaffected by Mina's comment, "Thank you."

"Turns out you were both useful, though, so we'll keep you in mind for the next robbery," Denki laughed, "Now grab the staff so we can go."

"You can leave me out of any future ventures, thank you," Izuku muttered sheepishly, a bit embarrassed that he didn't realize his own purpose to the elves.

Even still he moved to where Eijiro stood and followed where he pointed. He batted away cobwebs and shifted over a coat rack to reveal a dust covered staff. Izuku grabbed it and pulled it into the torchlight.

The feeling hit instantly. There was a small sense of what Eijiro had described in most staffs, but nothing Izuku had ever been able to point to. It wasn't usually noticeable outside of a tiny vibration that could barely be registered as such, but this was stronger and darker. He'd never held the staff of a Fallen Mage before, but it had the sort of feeling he would have expected. Heavy, blackened.

Using the inside of his robe, he wiped it down to discard most of the dust and reveal a dark smooth wood. Denki got close with the torch and they all gathered to get a better look. It was a beautiful staff, the type a Master might use, but it lacked Synod runes or Synod perfectionism. Still a magnificent weapon if not for the stained spots that discolored the wood in splotches.

Denki noticed too and touched the spots with a raised eyebrow.

"Looks a little messed up."

"It's a Blood Mage's staff, isn't it?" Eijiro pursed his mouth.

Izuku grimaced and his fingers became clammy against the wood. He looked at the stains in disgust, but Mina was leaning in close to assess it, unafraid of a staff tainted by Blood Magic.

"It's impressive," she marveled, "The craftsmanship would put our staff-makers to shame. I wonder where the Mage got a staff like this."

"A good question for another time," Izuku swallowed his aversion and held it like he would have his own, "I'm not looking to get caught in the middle of a crime by Tarlson soldiers today."

"Fair," Denki shrugged and directed everyone back through the door.

As they passed back through Mina turned to relock the door, but before she could Izuku stepped back into the doorway and created a small glyph in his free hand, making sure not to engage the magic of the staff. It was a very small, easily messed up spell, but he sent a pulse of vibration through the air to shudder the dust back into a settled state, masking the places they had brushed it away, leaving no sign that someone had come and gone.

"Very smooth," Mina complimented with a nod to the room.

She carefully inserted those tools again and began to relatch the lock into place. Denki got Eijiro's help and drug the two still unconscious guards to either side of the door and even propped them up to a sitting position against the wall, leaving them with no sign that anything had happened besides them falling asleep at their post.

While the three men set to take the same path back, Mina went to the window and climbed up on it.

"Where are you going?" Eijiro stopped and asked.

"Back to my room," she smiled, "I stand out a lot here, outside is safer."

"Isn't that dangerous?" Eijiro moved over to the windowsill and peaked out. He didn't seem quite scared himself, he had flown much high after all, but he turned up an eyebrow with concern to the far more fragile creature climbing out.

"What would be the fun if it wasn't dangerous?"

She flashed teeth at the boy and then swiftly and deftly grabbed the ledge above and propelled herself up onto it, disappearing from sight.

"Don't worry about her," Denki waved towards their exit, pulling Eijiro slowly away from his intrigued observation, "She's no stranger to scaling precarious heights."

They went quiet while snuck back out of the North wing, but once they had escaped it, they returned to the same casual pace as before. Izuku was absolutely struggling not to shake with every step they took; he hated being the one to carry the accursed staff. To any random passerby it would not stand out as anything peculiar, just a mage holding a staff, there was nothing to worry about, but he worried all the same.

Once they were in the safety of the scarce public eye, Izuku picked up his question where they had left off, hoping more to distract himself than really learn anything. "Where did she learn those things?"

"She's a Moondancer," he spoke in a hushed voice, as though it should explain everything.

And it did explain some, but the Magesterium's tomes on Moondancers were not very extensive and if anything baren. He knew they were heathens, thought so by humans and elves alike, but there was little he knew about their culture besides being reclusive. There was a reason she garnered a lot of interest from the people here in Tarlson. Most people in Gaetha didn't expect to ever meet a Moondance elf. Elves in general weren't all that common here, so it made Mina even more of a rarity.

"It's because they live in the mountains, right?" Eijiro chimed in.

"Yeah," Denki concurred, "They don't have all the structure that we have in Solen and here in Gaetha. Their homes could be caves or a thatch of wood or a stone villa cut into a mountain, you really never know."

"You've seen their home?" Eijiro gasped, "I thought they didn't let others into their homeland."

"Wait, how do you know so much about elves?" Izuku interrupted, assuming until then that Eijiro was mostly ignorant about outside cultures.

"The Bog Mages live near the Elven lands," Eijiro explained, "They learn a lot."

"So you're from the Bog Mage village," Denki nodded, tapping his lip as he tried to piece Eijiro together in their slow paced walk through the Keep.

"I'm not from there, but I spent a lot of time there growing up," Eijiro shrugged, "Did you really see where the Moondance elves live, though?"

Denki chuckled and paused as a pair of servants passed them by.

"I have been there yes," Denki admitted, "But I wasn't there for long. You're right, they don't allow outsiders in. I got kicked out pretty quickly and I got Mina kicked out for being the one to let in."

He rubbed the front of his neck with grit teeth. "Almost lost more than my pride that day."

"She was rejected by her own people?" Eijiro's eyes widened.

"For the next hundred years, yes," Denki shrugged, "That's not that big of a deal, I'm banished for two hundred so she can go home much sooner than I can."

"You were both banished?" Izuku tilted his head at the elf speaking so casually of his plight.

"We earned it, don't worry," Denki waved a hand through the air, "I tried bringing her back to Solen and my father nearly rang my neck then and there. Then there was the incident with the tree, but that's not important… Basically the two of us are just trying to entertain ourselves while we wait out our sentences."

"And all this you're doing with Shoto and the Captain?"

"Passing the time, mostly," Denki opened his hands, "But I do miss my family, so it's nice to be around Nana at least. She's scary, but I'd do anything for her."

"She's your aunt, right?" Izuku clarified.

"Is that what you call it here?" Denki raised an eyebrow at the Mage, "We don't really label those things, we just call each other family."

"She doesn't look like an elf," Eijiro observed and Izuku then recalled that he wasn't there for Shoto's brief explanation of his new friends.

"She isn't," Denki explained, "She came to Solen to train in nature magic when she was young and she became very close with my father, the chieftain, and his brother Toran. Apparently she was very close to Toran. They married after a few short years then they went back to Gaetha… I guess disappointing my father runs in the family.."

Denki was suddenly somber and the other two looked to each other in surprise, not expecting anything near seriousness from the chipper elf.

"What happened?"

"The last thing we had heard from Toran was a letter saying that they were in Dawnfell and that the Shimuras were a nice family," he went on, "Then about twenty years later I ended up here and ran into her while we were robbing her camp. Came this close to killing me," he barely spread his fingers and smiled, "But she recognized me and we ended up helping them instead. She told me about Toran and their son, how they were killed years ago. The irony was that the last few years all I've heard my father talk about was how he wanted to see him again and make up for what happened between them. Looks like we all missed our opportunity to make things right a long time ago."

"Wow, that's so sad," Eijiro pouted his mouth downward, "No wonder you cared about Nana so much. She's all you have left of him."

Denki smiled at the boy and patted his shoulder. "Even if he wasn't dead, she's still family. We take that seriously in Solen."

"Has that made you biased, then, or do you actually believe what she's doing is right?"

"I'm biased, of course, but I also think she's right," Denki said, "We don't condone what you call Fallen Magic in Solen either, but this threat is real and what has to be done is important. I'm proud to be a part of it."

"So, boredom, loyalty, love, and pride," Eijiro listed them all out on his fingers, "That's a lot of reasons to be involved."

"Really outweighs the reasons not to," Denki grinned.

The entryway to the West wing was in sight and Izuku was moments from suggesting that they keep a lid on any further conversation until they reached their room when the jumble and noise came into notice. All three of them had the same inclination to stop and see what was going on. A slieu of guards and a scattering of nobles were all moving in the same direction with a certain amount of urgency in their steps.

The three looked between each other, but none had an answer.

One young servant girl, rushing by, was caught by her arm as Denki physically grabbed her attention.

"What's going on?" he searched her anxious eyes, "Where's everyone going?"

"To the Grand Hall," she sputtered, "The whole Keep is abuzz about it."

"About what?" Denki squeezed her arm.

"Commander Tenya has returned," she met each eye, "And he was accompanied by the Yagi Princess."

"Try to keep your head here, Tarlson breeds ruthless nobles and you bring only bad news."

Momo's hand tightened at her side and she gave Tenya a resolute nod.

The hundreds of times she'd spoken to Lords, Dukes, Ladies, and Governors were not preparation for the gut gripping terror that came when approaching the Grand Hall of Tarlson's already intimidating Keep to ask for the cooperation and understanding of a man known best for being brash and prideful. But she was the daughter of the king, the heir to the throne, the truest authority here and Lord Enji was in the precarious situation of his own daughter being little better than a hostage in the hands of the slighted king.

She shouldn't have feared approaching the double doors or trembled at the soldiers Tenya had commanded to their sides hanging so close; they were to protect her, not to frighten her, but it felt as though she was walking casually into the belly of an untamable beast.

When the doors opened Momo choked. Even in the dead of night, nobles rushed from their chambers and soldiers from their posts to witness the approach of royalty. And well they should; it had been many years since the Yagi family had graced Tarlson with its presence and she could feel every one of those years weighing in full judgment from the score of eyes. It was to be expected to have an audience such as this for such an occasion, but this was far more ears that she had anticipated to hear what she needed to say to the Lord.

Tenya led the march up the long hall, earning it's name of "Grand" by size alone. She kept her shoulders up and squared with the lifted chin of a proud noble despite her attire still that of a servant. It was obvious her appearance had created a stir among them, but there could be no question of her identity either way.

They stopped before a raised platform with a single, grandiose seat, occupied by the largest man Momo had ever seen. He was a pillar of muscle, topped with hair like flames, and intense blue eyes that were severely cutting on their own even without the brutal scars across his face and down his hands. The Lord was a man who had seen war, had stood in the fray and withstood its blows without a flinch; she immediately understood why he was so feared.

Beside the Lord stood a younger man with a similar face, but not nearly as large or as battleworn; there were scars and a certain hardened look in his eye, but it didn't have the years of Lord Enji's. Other than that he looked strangely like Fuyumi, but without the speckled flecks of red in the white of his hair or the gentle delicacy of her nature. There was no doubt to Momo that he was Fuyumi's brother, the one Momo's father had refused to marry her to; Lord Commander Natsuo.

Tenya stepped aside to introduce the Princess to the Lord and the gathered people and Momo suddenly understood why Fuyumi had seemed so uncomfortable when she had first arrived in the Capitol. There was nothing pleasant about standing before the judging eyes of nobles or the feeling of being displayed when she was looking for a private audience.

"Lord Enji, I present Princess Momo Yagi, First and Last daughter of King Toshinori, Heir to the Gaethan throne."

Momo stepped forward at her introduction and confidently gave a small curtsey without dipping her head at all, meeting his heated gaze head on. A show of respect, but never admitting the man to be above her.

"Welcome," the younger Lord, Natsuo, gave her an unaffected nod, "We are honored by your presence in Tarlson."

Enji lifted his chin and turned his eyes from the Princess to Commander Tenya without even acknowledging her, which both offended and relieved her at once that his eyes were no longer lingering on her.

"Why have you returned Commander?" Lord Enji's voice boomed and shook what little stability was left in Momo, "You were tasked to stay by my daughter's side and yet you are here and she is not."

Tenya's head dropped, body stiffening as he bowed the upper half of his body forward.

"I take full responsibility for abandoning my post, My Lord," he said confidently, "But we have come with an urgent warning or an impending threat and of accusations to the honor of the Todoroki name. I left only at the request of her Highness to guide her here safely and with even further behest from Lady Fuyumi herself."

"Your orders do not come from Fuyumi, but me," Enji glared, "You are bound to my word alone when I have given you an assignment, Commander!"

Teny's face was reddened and there was some panic rising in his shoulders. Rage crept up Momo's throat at the sight.

"And your order means nothing in the Capitol, Lord Enji," Momo barked with more confidence than she actually had, "No one else could be trusted."

"He is not your soldier, Highness," Enji turned those eyes back to her and she quaked up her legs, "What is the power of a Lord if he cannot command his own people?"

"What is the power of the throne if it cannot usurp that command when the need arises?" Momo shot back as quickly as his sentence ended, "You govern your own lands, not the Capitol and not Gaetha, Lord. You waste valuable time bantering the quandary of a man serving his future queen rightfully while a true threat lingers.

"What threat is that?" Lord Natsuo's head dipped to the side, eying Momo with an uncomfortable emptiness.

Tenya turned his eyes up at Momo, stuck in his bow until they were finished debating his right and wrong and nodded for her to speak.

Speech was momentarily forgotten and a wife pause filled the space as Momo realized she would have to speak on what had happened those three nights ago. Her hands felt clammy and every bit of fabric on her body seemed to hug wrong, but she knew better than to fidget or to stay silent too long.

"There was an attempted murder three nights ago," Momo struggled to keep her voice clear, "The attempt was on my very own life and the act was from a Mage… A Mage from Tarlson, from your very Keep."

A muttered gasp overtook the crowd and Enji leaned forward in his seat now, brows knitted together.

"When he was captured he stated that you had sent him, that my attempted assassination was by your order," Momo continued to the ever rising outrage of the nobles and the tighter confusion of the younger Lord, "Commander Tenya identified him and confirmed that was who he said he was, but that you would never lower yourself to such a demeaning and dishonorable act. I believe him, Lord Enji and I do not believe for a moment that a proud warrior such as yourself would stoop to the conniving and disgusting act of murder in the night."

Momo locked her knees to keep from scurrying back when Enji shot to his feet.

"And the King?" The suspicion in his voice told Momo that he was already ahead of what she had told him so far.

She and Tenya both paled and the Commander looked even less inclined to move with his stiff position.

"The king…" Momo began and hesitated, knowing it foolish to do so, but finding it hard not to gauge the faces around her while she spoke, "My father did not believe Commander Tenya nor Lady Fuyumi's attempts to defend you. He is enraged, Lord Enji, it has blinded his sense. It is love and passion that drives him, but he will not hear reason from me or anyone else! You must speak with him, reason with him before blood is spilled over this misunderstanding."

Another quiet gap filled the room as this news settled into each shocked face. Enji's was perhaps the most stricken and twisted and so unlike the proud, unaffected expression that had greeted her approach. But it turned quickly to a bitter anger and the Lord bared his teeth around his words when he spoke next.

"Toshinori intends to attack me?"

"No!" Momo rushed to say and then stuttered, "I mean, yes, but it is not-"

"Does the king ride to Tarlson to fight me or not, Your Highness?" The way he said her title felt threatening.

"He could not be dissuaded," Tenya explained, "He seeks immediate vengeance. He and his armies left before us, My Lord, we nearly expected to approach an ongoing fight when we arrived."

"There has been no sighting of any army," Lord Natsuo frowned, thoughtfully, "They would be approaching through the Pass, that's the most direct path for a marching army." He became suddenly alert, urgency overtaking thoughtfulness, "The Pass Outpost has been silent these last days. If they attacked with stealth and disable our means of communication first, they could have already taken a foothold in Tarlson without us knowing it."

"Natsuo, make preparations for battle," Enji's response was swift, "I want your men ready to ride to the Pass within the hour.."

"My Lord!" Momo barked loud enough to get the much larger man's attention, "I beg of you, do not ride to meet my father in battle! Let us parle with him together and dismiss this horrible business before it begins. We need only speak reasonably with him..."

Enji's only acknowledgement that she had spoken was a glaring glance, before continuing to pass his orders to the Lord Commander who was even then directing his lieutenant to prepare the troops.

Rage boiled up in Momo's chest as she stomped a severe pace towards the Lord, the act of a fearless woman, but the reality merely desperation. "Do not ignore me!" she shouted, "I am your future queen and you will show me due respect when I speak to you."

The room went ice cold as a hushed murmur passed over the gathered nobles. Even Tenya gave her a fearful look as Enji turned slowly back to her. But before the Lord could offer rebuttal they were disrupted by the echoing entrance of a proud headed military Commander hurrying into the room. Tenya straightened when he saw him and stepped forward to meet the man halfway and grip his arm.

They had nearly the same face, differentiated by not much more than age and they embraced very quickly in familiarity. As soon as the short greeting broke the new arrival gave almost startled attention towards the Princess as if just realizing that he had passed over acknowledging the future queen herself to embrace his fellow Tarlson Commander.

"Tenya why have you returned?" the Commander asked, but Natsuo was quick and harsh in cutting them off.

"Commanders, this is not the time for reunion. We must make ready for battle immediately, the King marches on us and we must ride to protect the Pass."

Confusion and then tangible nothing swept across the new Commander's face in a manner of seconds, followed by an address to Momo directly. "Is this true, your highness?"

Momo tore her gaze away from the intensity that Enji commanded to give a curt defense. "Yes, but there is no call for you to engage in battle with him. This can be resolved if you would only listen to me and go with me to speak with him..."

"And Lady Fuyumi, what has become of her?" the Commander asked quite loudly, hushing over the audience and diverting Momo's request yet again.

Enji's eyes narrowed on the princess. "Yes, your highness, what has become of the daughter I left in your family's care?"

"My Lord, Princess Momo has vouched again and again for her safety," Tenya offered, "The King will do nothing to harm her."

"You are not at her side, how can you know that, Commander?" Natsuo tilted his head with crossed arms at Tenya, "How can you actually assure her safety when you stand here, miles away?"

It was the same attack as before and with its return, the shameful look he had sported before returned in haste. His head dropped once more and his cheeks flushed, internally agonizing over the already difficult decision to abandon his duty and bring Momo here. And Momo's face came to the same shade, but in rage.

"May my own life be forfeit if I have lied about her safety!" Momo shouted, cheeks inflamed, "He knows her to be safe because he trusts me as you should! I am here as much to protect her as anything! You have made her a part of my family, but I can only do so much against the wrath of my father if you do not meet him on neutral ground and prove you have not slighted him!"

Enji threw out a hand and scoffed, "Spoken like a child. The offense it takes to make a King ride to war on his own Lords is not something that can be brushed away with a few pretty words. If he has attacked our outpost then the time for talking is over. He brings his army to fight without so much as verifying these claims and you expect me to believe he was not looking for an excuse to do this? I don't doubt your intentions, Highness, but the King looks for a fight and we will damn well give it to him."

A lead feeling dropped from her chest to her toes at the booming words and Momo choked on any attempt at an argument, cut off by Enji putting his back to her once again.

"Tensei go with Natsuo and gather your men for a battle, you will ride to the Pass Outpost and defend against whatever lies there," Enji scowled, "Tenya you will remain here to watch after the Princess as you have already been doing-"

"I will not sit idly by while you speak of harming the King so openly!" she practically screamed when her voice finally got out. She stomped forcefully forward, getting closer to Enji than his guards were comfortable with. Hands took her arms and grounded her immovable as she shouted with deepest offense, "Unhand me!"

"My Lord, please listen to Princess Momo," Tenya tried to reason with him urgently, "If there is a chance to settle this peaceably, should we not at least-"

The entire tense, uncomfortable, hectic situation came to a screeching halt with the crashing echo of the chamber doors throwing inward. Harsh words fell silent as all eyes tracked up the hall to its wide flung double doors and a new sense of confusion went through the audience.

A muck covered pair of soldiers accompanied by Keep Guards were escorted inside and all the nobles stepped back at the sight, obviously disgusted and fearing for the mud to stain their nice clothes. But Momo didn't shirk away and the guards that had held her back before, didn't stop her from getting ever closer.

One was a Tarlson Lieutenant, soiled by the mud covered road, but the other, who the Lieutenant practically held on his feet every step, was no soldier of Tarlson, but a King's Guard, battered and mucked with more than just the mud of the road. Everyone recognized the bit of clean armor that could be seen, but Momo knew the face and the Guards didn't stop her from pulling free to step closer to the Corporal she knew to be one of the King's Flagbearers.

"What is the meaning of this?" The Lord barked at the interruption.

"My Lord," the Lieutenant reported, breathless, "This man rushed into our camp and collapsed from his horse from many wounds and demanded to be brought to you immediately."

"Who is this?" Enji opened a hand at them, the clarity of the situation hard to see under the layers of mud.

The Corporal's head lifted weakly and he blinked against mud, seeing first the Princess standing but a few feet away.

"You-your highness," he sputtered and then coughed viciously, gripping his arm around his gut with a groan, "It is a comfort to see your face."

His name came to her once he spoke and her heart squeezed hard in her chest. This man was a friend of Togata, someone he had guided through the last few years, who he had brought up from a fearful recruit to an honorable and bold soldier.

She turned to the Lord on behalf of the Corporal and spoke clearly, despite the wad in her throat, "This is Genry, Corporal in the King's Guard, he was with my father when they left the castle…"

Momo turned back stricken eyes to his mud covered face and saw his head drop and legs shudder under him, already coming to fearful conclusions in her own mind as to what would bring him here.

"My Lord," The Lieutenant's voice was filled with desperation, "He came from the Pass…"

"The King has attacked our Outpost and sends a messenger to rub it in my face?" Enji's voice was like a crack of thunder.

The Lieutenant was taken aback and gaped at the Corporal. "Is this true?"

Corporal Genry took a breath to speak and started coughing and groaning instead, his feet giving out and his knees hitting the floor. The shock and horror and confusion left Momo spinning back and forth looking for a way to explain or lessen the hostile environment that was steadily getting more out of her hands.

Luckily, she was spared making excuses and explanations by the complete brashness of a military clad man pushing through the crowd as if he alone commanded the room. He was out of place and reeled Momo into further confusion to recognize the uniform as a Dawnfelden Captain's armor. There was great offense at his lack of decorum, but no one stopped him either, though the man that followed him from the crowd seemed more than displeased with him; a man who stood out so oddly from his Synod Master Robes to his two toned hair that, had the Captain not been so distracting, she may have been lost in a confused stare on him for a good minute. The sentiment was not hers alone. She didn't miss the elongated stare of Lord Enji turning sour of the Mage's face before the focus returned pointedly to the Captain's uncouth behavior.

"Captain, what are you-" Natsuo tried to snap at him, but the man went right up to the Corporal Genry, slumping beside the Lieutenant, and dropped to a crouch.

"That's not what happened," The Dawnfelden Captain corrected, helping the Lieutenant prop the man up as he unbuckled his chestplate and lifted his shirt to reveal the wounds clearly. They bled profusely and went across his sternum like claws while other marks appeared to be burns and others were simply inexplicable.

Momo gagged and turned her face away.

"Captain Katsuki, you have not been granted audience in this court, let alone-" Natsuo tried again, but the Captain was louder than him and cut him off as though their ranks were reversed.

"These wounds weren't made by Tarlson soldiers. This is Ether magic and undead work."

The panic in the room heightened and Momo's disgust was immediately replaced by a horrified curiosity. All eyes now turned to the gruesome wounds.

"Are you certain of this?" Enji looked the Captain over.

The Captain very viciously pointed to his uniform and looked at the Lord as though he were an idiot. "No, I wear this uniform for fun. Trust a damn Dawnfelden to know a demon attack… My Lord."

Natsuo looked ready to explode, but Enji looked legitimately disturbed for the first time since Momo had met him. Commander Tensei seemed the most ready to believe and moved to inspect the wounds himself, Genry barely holding onto consciousness. He touched the wounds and his brow twisted in horror before he looked to the Mage that had followed the Captain.

"Master Shoto?"

The Mage suddenly had everyone's attention and the shift in his stance said it was the last thing he wanted, but he answered quickly and clearly, "He's correct. This was not done by man."

Genry went entirely limp and Katsuki barely caught his collapsing body. Tensei shouted through the hall for a healer to be brought immediately while Katsuki and the Lieutenant lowered Genry to the floor.

Enji looked to Natsuo and frowned, but the younger Lord was starched.

"As much as it pains me to say, I trust what they are saying," Natsuo vouched, "They have fought at Demon's Rise."

Genry was not entirely unconscious yet and Katsuki threw up a hand to silence them when the Corporal's eyes rolled back open. In the panic of the moment, Momo rushed to his side and dropped beside him, terrified about what any of this meant and desperate to hear what Genry would say.

"Genry!" she said his name, "My father, what of him? Please, what has become of the King and his army?"

The Captain kneeling on the other side of the fallen man stared at the princess and, though she looked only to the man barely clinging to life, she could feel how intent his stare was, how his harsh thoughts seemed to permeate the air without being spoken.

Genry choked, a pained tear cutting the dirt on his face as he coughed a spurt of blood into his hand.

"Do not push him, he needs to save his strength," Tenya said as he and Tensei stood together over them, every worry known to man on his face.

"He's going to die," The Captain turned his red gaze to the two Commanders, "There's no need to save strength."

Tenya scowled harshly as the man continued to cough and cry out. "You cannot say-"

Tensei's hand went to Tenya's shoulder and quieted his argument, then nodded to the Captain.

Momo was in a fit of panicked tears. "Genry, please hold on. Please tell me what has happened!"

Genry's eyes began to roll back and his hand slid from his mouth like it had simply lost the strength to stay there, but Captain Katsuki grabbed him by the shirtfront and shook him back to the present where he sputtered in pain again.

"Your King gave you a mission, soldier!" The Captain demanded, "Don't fucking croak before you finished it!"

Momo gaped in horror at the actions of the Captain towards a man with so little life left in him, but somehow the Captain's words surged energy into his expression and Genry grit his teeth through the pain and tears to speak.

"We expected to meet the Tarlson army...not… not… We were unprepared and the King… the Commander… Everyone. They fight for their lives at the Pass… Demons...Undead… and a powerful Mage...Please, Captain...The King needs aid!"

Katsuki turned up a demanding stare to Tensei and Tenya and both looked immediately to their Lords for direction. Momo followed suit, her prideful demands gone, now filled with only a fear stricken plea.

"My Lord," she sobbed, "I beg of you… Please, help your King! Do not let him fall to the Ether!"

The room fell to the longest, crispest silence Momo had ever felt. Enji was visibly affected, but there was no telling in what way that was. It took a few mere moments, but the shock dissipated and suddenly Enji and Natsuo were both filled with an intensity Momo had rarely seen among men of noble birth.

"Hurry to gather your men!" Enji demanded, "No Demon will do my work for me. Commander Tensei, go with him now and ride swiftly. I will follow in daylight." A sweeping gesture went over the hall following those words with a demanding bellow that sent the nobles scrambling. "The rest of you leave! This audience is over!"

Commander Tensei and Natsuo bowed and moved to leave as the Corporal was set back to the ground more gently than Momo might have expected from the harsh Captain. As he seemed to follow them, though the Captain had his attention on Momo, the intensity of his stare was enough to make royalty feel overpowered.

"He's your guard, Your Highness," Katsuki whispered as he started to rise, "See that his death is comfortable. It's the least you can do."

Momo's tearful expression turned confused on him and then sympathetic to the Corporal who had slipped from consciousness again.

"I must go with them!" she cried out, shaking her head to what Katsuki had said, "My father is in danger I must-"

"I called you foolish before and I was correct!" Enji bellowed and the Commanders hesitated, "There is no place for a young girl on the battlefield, no matter what royal blood flows through her… not against a foe such as this. Tenya," he barked, "My order stands. Continue to look after the Princess and keep her from harm."

There was no chance to keep that particular argument going with the Captain moving around between where Enji stood and the Princess knelt.

"We're going with the Lord Commander," Katsuki demanded as the Mage who had accompanied him stepped forward as well.

The Lord gave the slightest hesitance at the approach of the Mage, his stare bitter, but he didn't get distracted for more than a few seconds. "Then go, Dawnfelden, be ready to ride at the Lord Commander's order."

A nod came from both the Mage and the Captain and then both offered a brief bow to the distracted Princess before rushing after Natsuo and Tensei.

"Lord Enji, I cannot-"

"Silence," Enji snapped at Momo, "I will have the healers see to the Corporal, but I will not abide the idiotic demands of a child in my own home. You will not leave this Keep until I say so."

The healer and his aids had come while Enji spoke and gathered around Genry as Tenya helped Momo back to her feet.

"Am I your prisoner then?" Momo choked.

Enji narrowed his eyes at the emotionally distraught girl. "No more than my daughter is your father's prisoner."

The next heartbeat came too slowly and the room didn't seem to exist for another solid beat. She had no chance for rebuttal as Enji had already moved on and ordered Tenya to take Momo away and go with the healers.

She could only shiver at the guidance of Tenya's hand on her arm.

Fuyumi was not their prisoner… she wasn't. But by every written definition she was. So that meant Momo was too. She could not demand to leave, could not rush to her father when he was in need. Enji would not hear her. Her words fell on deaf ears just like they always did. The harshest reality that burned like an iron in her chest was simply that her royal blood and even her right to the throne had not given her a voice. She should have all the power in Gaetha and for the last few days she had been nothing but powerless.

Her father was in mortal danger and the Capitol still believed Enji had tried to have her killed and she had done nothing to change that… For all her effort, these stubborn old men remained stubborn and an entirely new danger had swept in to make the squabble over who had tried to kill her seem so small.

"Tenya, you have to help me," she sobbed quietly as he pulled her along, "You have to get me out of here."

"No," he shook his head, "Lord Enji is correct. You are in danger outside of these walls. My brother and Lord Natsuo are the best at what they do. They will help the King."

A whimper slipped past her lip, a sound of desperation and fear, of so much that she cared about being so far from her ability to affect.

"And the Captain is right," Tenya added in a pained whisper, "You must see to Genry. He gave his life to bring this news to us. You must honor him, stay by his side for as long as you can."

She blinked tearily at the healers ahead of them who carried his limp body and she could only think of Togata, how his heart would be broken to see a life he had so influenced come to such an end. With that thought alone she stopped resisting and even sped ahead of Tenya to follow them, to stay with him to the last or until she could wriggle free from Lord Enji; until she could go to her father herself.

The Captain was right. She owed Genry this much at least.


	17. The Battle for the Pass

A/N: The reason this took so long to get out is that I'm posting two chapters at once, so hopefully that will make up for this lengthy delay! Again I do what I can, I write when I can and I'm blessed you all still follow! I'm even skipping NaNoWriMo this year (for the first time in like four years) just because I know I don't have the time.

I hope these live up to everyone's expectations and that the big reveals aren't too badly done (I'm not too great at those, so please forgive if written poorly lol)

As always thank you all for the immense support and please enjoy!

"I'm sorry, your highness. There was nothing more that could be done. He's gone..."

The young girl's eyes were fragile and teary. Her fresh face and her stricken expression told of her inexperience, a new apprentice to the Keep's healers. She couldn't have been out of the Magesterium more than a few months by the look of her and this seemed to be the first time she'd ever spoken to someone of noble status with how low she kept her gaze and how uncomfortably she stood in front of Momo.

"Th-thank you," Momo faltered and held her arms ever closer around her.

She had stayed close to the healers and to Genry for a time, but the healers had demanded that they leave the premises as things started to turn for the worst and nothing Momo could say was able to dissuade them. The horrors of death were as averse to her as anything and the state Genry was in was beyond disheartening, but she had one job here, one important thing to do, to stay with him, let him know that his sacrifice was appreciated and known to his Princess and yet even that small duty was ripped from her by the demand of some old Mage.

The news of his death was already weighty, but made so much worse but the enclosing walls of the glimmering prison she'd been provided with and how it kept her so far away from every one of her duties. It was obvious how on edge everyone around her was too, not just this girl. The Tarlson people were loyal to their Lord, but it was apparent how uncomfortable it made them all to restrict the movements of the future ruler of their entire Kingdom on his order.

Luckily, she was not locked away alone here, even if she was the only one in the room that was in captivity.

Tenya's arms were crossed over his chest, back to the wall as he jerked his head at the girl, teeth grit at the floor.

"You can go," he ordered.

She looked nervously between them and then with a brief bow she scrambled from sight, leaving Momo free to express her frustrations in the tight way she held herself and the vicious pace she began throughout the room. Her breaths came fast and choppy with frantic emotion and Tenya's discomfort was palpable.

"Your highness, I'm sorry," he lowered the usual rigidity that plagued his voice for her, "I'm sure this is difficult for you."

"I promised I would stay with him," Momo winced on a frustrated tear, "I-I only stayed here and listened to you because I was supposed to be by his side, but..."

"I know you made a promise, but the healer was only looking after you," Tenya tried to defend, "Death is an unpleasant thing and you are-"

"Young? A little girl? Immature? Weak? Fragile?"

Momo spat the horrible words that she had been called so many times before and stabbed her dark eyes accusingly at the Commander. His shoulders came forward, his demeanor humbled.

"I apologize, your highness..."

"Even you see me so pathetically," Momo cut a tear down her cheek.

"Of course not, I just-"

Momo's fist slammed against the wall.

Tenya's argument fell and he didn't move, just stayed quiet as she drew back her slowly bruising hand. Adrenaline dulled the pain from reaching her conscious thought and she didn't quite know what had made her do it; she'd never lashed out violently like that before. But this was not being told no by her mother or Togata teasing her too much, this was serious. A man had died and her father was in grave danger and she was stuck in this room, being demeaned again.

But maybe there was a reason for that.

Tenya watched her in the following moments of stillness as the jerking pace of her breath came back to a calmer pattern and a disheartening idea began to clarify.

The thoughts passed her lips softly, her eyes fixed on red knuckles.

"Maybe I am what I'm told I am. I've never proven anyone differently... But I want to. For once I need someone to have some faith in me; let something bad happen to me so I can know if I am so fragile."

The thoughtful turn Tenya's mouth conjured a glare from Momo. As foolish as it was, she couldn't help preparing herself to hear the same abject words she was so used to, forgetting in her insecurity about the confidence he'd placed in her throughout their time knowing each other. But that was hard to recall in the midst of so much distress and the way the men around her seemed to constantly disregard her.

Tenya pushed away from the wall and stood at the center of the room, just in front of her, but his eyes didn't lift to hers. They remained thoughtfully on the ground in front of him as she eyed his movements with scepticism.

"Someone in my position stands on a precarious edge, Momo," he explained, "Would it be a betrayal of my oath to Tarlson to ignore my Lord in preference to my King or is that the true order of things? Were my Lord and my King perfectly aligned in intent this would never be a question, but ever since I have known you I have been saddled with this burdensome thought again and again and I can only conclude that there is no correct answer. How can I truly know if I was wrong or right to leave my post at Fuyumi's side to take you here? One was an order from my Lord and the other an order from the Princess."

It was hard not to frown at the unprecedented turn of Tenya's focus. "What do you mean? I don't see what this has to do with me."

"I want you to know… I want you to understand. Understand that this is no small thing and that what I'm about to do will burden me until my dying breath. But loyalty is largely about heart and my heart lies with what is right. And this…" he gestured to the room that she was being kindly confined in under his watch, "This is not right."

The Commander tossed a wary look at the door; it was still latched and there was no sound beyond it.

Momo opened her hands, ready to let her frustration resurface in full, but then he dropped to one knee, lowering his head and resting his fist over his heart. She could do nothing but stare at the physical gesture as her lips parted and failed to speak.

"I do not denounce my loyalty to Tarlson, but I add to my oath of fealty total obedience to the ruling family of Gaetha," Tenya spoke firmly, confidently, "I vow my sword, my blood, and my life to safeguard the enthronement, protect the lives, and foster the ruling powers of my King, my Queen, their family… And most importantly, my Princess."

"Commander…"

His eyes swept up in all seriousness awaiting her response, no hesitation or uncertainty.

But Momo was not so confident.

"Why?"

Tenya lowered his head again, his expression full of severe contemplation.

"This has been on my mind since we spoke at the inn. And I do this because you deserve that faith you desire from me. I have hesitated to give you the trust you are due and I have let you believe these blatant lies about yourself. But Momo, only a person of such immeasurable strength could have made me question my oaths so often in so short a time. I realized as you said these depreciative things about yourself for the tenth time how utterly false they were, how wrong it is that others have made you begin to believe them, and how much proof of that strength I've been given in these few days."

His eyes turned up to her, softened, yet never losing their serious nature.

"Your highness, you were nearly killed three nights ago, you were badly hurt, you were put through immense pain and yet you rushed, still bleeding, to defend me and Fuyumi, to fight against all present proof for what your heart was telling you was true! You looked your attacker in the face, battled with my indecision, faced every obstacle in escaping your own home and still took this long, grueling journey in conditions you have never had to endure, all to stop needless bloodshed and the countless deaths of Tarlson soldiers. Besides perhaps fear for your father's safety, there is no personal gain for you here. Tarlson is no one to you and for your father to decimate us would change nothing about your life and yet you come to our aid as if we were family. You have been belittled by my Lord, by your father, your own people...by me, and yet you still want more than anything to do what is right, even if it means you have to hear these painful words again and again. I have never seen someone burden themselves as you have over the loss of one soldier's life and I cannot help but think that if all our rulers had such values, even the horror of the ether would seem a minor inconvenience to the strength that Gaetha would garner."

Her throat twisted into a knot and there was burning in Momo's chest she had never felt before. It was nothing like the ache of an infatuation or the swell of pride. She'd been complimented many times before as well, by family and many people who were not allowed to contradict her. This was nothing like that. These were the exact words she did not realize she needed to hear, affirmations she had never heard told so genuinely to her.

"Few men have earned my faith by their actions," Tenya exhaled, "Not even the King, not even my Lord. But you have, your highness. You are more noble than anyone who has ever lived under the title 'noble'. I swear on my family name I will never doubt you again. You may lead me to oblivion and, I vow, I will follow."

It was hard to know what to do or say when her world was crashing in a wave of confused emotion, but when she spoke she was still fearful of accepting these things, still looking to find the excuse that would break him of this vow.

"What about Fuyumi?"

Tenya didn't even pause to think about it, simply shook his head. "Fuyumi is as much part of your family now as she is the Todorokis'. She is the common ground between you both and she will always be my duty to protect above all else. But I am confident in you and your intentions above anyone else's. I know whatever you do will also be what is best for her."

The pure, unadulterated faith he had in her intentions choked her to a continued silence, unable to make the right words appear to properly show how it affected her and how deeply she appreciated it.

Luckily, Tenya gave her an opening, drawing his sword and raising its handle out to her, a knight's symbol of total submission to their ruler, "Your highness, do you accept my vow?"

With shaking hands, Momo took the sword, finding it to be heavier than she expected and requiring two hands to wield. She lifted it and took a moment to stare into the shine of it's polished blade, absorbing the distorted image of her disheveled self in it's reflection, dressed like a servant girl, dirtied from the road, drained by the strain of their journey and the devastating emotions that had come with their arrival. It was not a proud, determined, or leaderly face. It was not the face of a queen or even a princess. It was the face of a girl without a single glint of royalty on her garb, without the authority of a crown on her matted head.

She looked from the reflection to the man still kneeling in wait at her feet and he stared back, unfaltering as if he didn't see the mess that she saw or the child that others seemed to.

Doubt vanished, stripped away by the image of faith and hope that knelt before her.

The sword tilted down, the blade tapping gently to one shoulder and then the next, the sharp end moving dangerously close to his neck without ever touching. Her father had told her it was meant to symbolize the power of life and death they were being given over the individual at their feet, that the knight was freely granting this power to them by allowing them to use his sword and that the closeness of the blade to his flesh was a reminder of the severity of such a decision.

"I accept your vow, Commander Tenya Iida," she shed relieved tears as she smiled down at him, "You are ever and will always be a soldier of Tarlson, but today you are a Knight of the Gaethan Realm. Until death you will have a place among the family of Yagi, a home in the Capitol, respect of your King, your Queen, and your Princess. You are a son of Gaetha. May you never break your vow, lest your privileges be forsaken, your house dishonored, and your life be forfeit."

The weight of the words did not fully resonate with either as they were spoken. Both had heard them many times over the years or variants on them. It was the usual acceptance of a Knight's oath and Momo smiled proudly that she'd said them without fumbling; this was only the second time she had ever officially knighted someone.

"Please rise."

Momo readjusted the sword in her hand and carefully held it back out to Tenya as he stood. He took it, sheathed it with equal care, immediately swept up the cloaks they had been given upon entering the Keep. He gestured for her to put it on, but Momo hesitated, looking between the cloak and the Commander with questions; Tarlson was more Southern than the Capitol and thus warmer than she was used to as it was and it was far from necessary to wear indoors. When she saw he was distracted and not about to answer the unasked question she just put it on and moved to her next question.

"What will you do now?"

"We will go to the King and do what we came here to do: mediate this mess before our leaders kill one another over their misunderstandings."

"You will take me to my father?" She locked her knees to keep them from collapsing beneath her.

Her crippling fear around her father's safety had not been diminished by Tarlson's ride to aid him, especially with the King's intentions now known to them. That Dawnfelden Captain seemed to know the most about what they were headed into and seemed to have the right strength of spirit, hopefully without specific Tarlson loyalty, for her to trust he would at least try to truly protect the king. But was one competent warrior enough to guard the King if he was surrounded by ill intended men? Their priorities would be to quell the ether threat, but where would that leave them once the King was safe from it? Would his saviors become his attackers?

There were too many terrifying questions with far too many uncertain answers that her only consolation was the idea of being there, of trying to arbitrate and make one of both of them listen to her for once. Two powerful men like that would likely ignore her again, but she absolutely had to try.

Tenya believed in her though and that meant more than every one of their doubts. She didn't know how they were to escape here, how they would make it out of the Keep, but she was confident in the look in Tenya's eye, confident in his vow. He would make it happen, whatever that took.

Once they had gathered themselves Tenya had Momo stand behind him and then rapped his fist against the door, signalling the guard outside to open to the Commander.

The lock fiddled loudly and he reached a hand back, taking her arm and narrowing determination at the door.

"Stay close and trust me," he nodded, "I will get you to your father no matter what."

"Thank you," she whispered, "I do trust you."

Momo touched his arm gently just before the door came open and their second escape from the clutches of noble walls and noble rules began.

Rain came down in sheets and the scent of fresh mud almost masked the unmistakable stench of blood. Almost.

Katsuki could see on Shoto and Nana's faces as they came upon the sight of the Outpost that they could smell it too, that the aura in the air was inhumane and weighted. It wasn't comparable to the Archdemon and the taste of the death that followed it, but it was tangible and more than enough to strike since unknown levels of fear in the Tarlson army.

For the Tarlson troops they were riding to the defense of their lands and whatever else happened was secondary. But for Katsuki and his group there were two prevailing goals that trumped all else, to find the summoner and kill him, to find the King and protect him. Katsuki's homeland was a place where defense against the ether was paramount, but it was an environment of deep patriotism too. Had this situation not turned to an immediate threat from the ether, Katsuki would not have abided Lord Enji's blatant disregard for the royal family much longer; the Princess was young and obviously a bit foolish, yes, but she was still the daughter of the King and even Katsuki knew that Enji's words could easily have been called treasonous.

As the outline of the outpost walls and watchtower revealed through the cloak of falling water, Lord Commander Natsuo and Commander Tensei demanded order in their ranks and called out commands to their divisions and the Synod Cohort among them.

Katsuki did the same with his own small, motley battalion, which had somehow grown when he wasn't looking; from what he recalled of their last conversation the new round faced girl and her friend with the idiotic expression weren't supposed to continue along with them to fight the Summoner and yet here they were. He wasn't an idiot, though, and any extra bodies and powers were needed.

When barking his orders to follow his lead he expected resistance from the rather randomized group as they had all shown to be stubborn and opinionated so far, but, when faced with the ether itself present on earth, people's fear tended to turn them to the nearest embodiment of leadership and Katsuki was that leader. Even the Mages didn't question him, which included Shoto. Perhaps he'd learned his lesson last time and remembered how he would have been dead at the fronts if it weren't for the Captain.

Though most could already sense it, the first unearthly movement sent a shockwave through the men. The screams cut through the rain next; of fearful and dying men and of the evil and darkness that were demons, Major and minor.

The Tarlson Battle Mages took the front line and the air filled with the glow and light of their magic. The army fell to a halt behind them as a white glow burst towards the outpost and pushed the rain and storm itself from their view while streaks of orange fire cut out in either direction of the outpost's walls, clearing the obstructions to their sight and lighting up the night to see their enemy.

"Shit…"

The gasp came from the Renegade girl with the big cheeks.

All that this strange party that accompanied him had so far seen, and even crossed swords with, were minor demons and a couple Major Demons, but most had never seen anything like this.

Tempest Demons in the horizon, stirring storms and waves and cracking their ears with thunderous crashes. Minor demons and undead scrambled around them like a swarm of ants and an entire half of the outpost's defenses were shredded to rubble and splinters in the blood mixed mud. They were locked already in the intensity of battle, the glistening gold armor of the King's Guard breaking through the cloud of muck to shine in the firelight.

Lord Natsuo had his fist raised, but choked when the scene became clear; it was obvious why. Among those dealing the vicious blow to the King's army were men in tattered Tarlson uniforms fighting beside the demons.

It was jarring to see your own men as walking corpses, but there was no time to consider the shock of witnessing necromancy; they were already dead and the threat had to be handled now. The dead could be mourned when the living were certain of their own survival.

Luckily the Lord Commander cleared his head quickly and he threw his arm forward with a cry, ordering the charge. Commander Tensei followed suit and the Tarlson troops swarmed the battlefield through and around the outpost.

As they had decided on the ride from the Keep, Shoto and Nana took the other Mages in the direction of the Major Demons to work with the Tarlson Battle Mages in subduing the Major Demon threat while Katsuki, Kyoka and the elves charged head on with the rest of the army,

The rain was a drizzle now, but the mud flung like it's own form of downpour at them as the cluster of the frontline galloped over the fallen fortifications. The battle cry of the Tarlson soldiers was as thunderous as the storm the Mages had pushed away.

The undead and the demons found their new enemy when swords came swinging down and the unstoppable force of the battle-ready steeds trampled them underfoot and broke the bodies of the undead beneath them. Relief washed the faces of the survivors, knee deep in grime and their dead, and a resolved cheer passed through them at the arrival of their saviors.

The swords of the King's army swung with renewed strength as hope returned to the beaten down and hopeless.

The forces of the ether inside the outpost's walls were not nearly as large as those outside, but taking back the outpost was paramount. From it they could create a defensive point and give their archers position on the battlements.

Katsuki dropped from his horse now that they were among the enemy and with an almost childish excitement, the elves followed suit. Blades and shields rose in front of them and the chattering, shrieking, bodies of once Tarlson soldiers rushed them.

"What the fuck are-?"

Denki's horror at the oncoming corpses was cut off by the sight of minor demons clawing their way through the undead, yellow eyes bright with a murderous lust.

"Hold your ground!" Kyoka shouted, still from atop her horse, slapping Katsuki with pure annoyance that she thought she could tell them what to do.

But then he saw her lute in her hands and heard her voice crack the air with a sound that grated his bones more harshly than any demonic shriek.

Their enemies stumbled to a slow, hindered pace, like they were being steadily frozen by the wordless tune sung at a volume that could only be described as inhuman. The enchantment on Kyoka's voice vibrated through the air and, though it made Katsuki clench every muscle down to the bone from some deeply buried fear he had tried to forget, he took full advantage of what her magic had done.

The Tarlson soldiers hesitated in confusion and even Commander Tensei stopped mid swing to see the strange magic that was occurring. But once Katsuki cut down the first stalled demon and stomped in the skull of an undead it seemed to jar everyone back to reality.

"How is-?"

"Don't question it Commander, just use it!" Mina laughed and crossed twin blades over an undead throat, separating head from shoulders.

"That's why we keep you around, gorgeous!" Denki cheered on Kyoka, but she stayed focussed on keeping the sound coming from her throat uninterrupted.

With little other choice, Commander Tensei called his men back to action. Magic cut the sky around them and demon shrieks made bones chatter, but the area around Kyoka was calm and deadly. Tensei's men formed up a barrier around her as the battle waged on and Katsuki focussed on doing as much damage as he and the elves could. It was tempting to bark orders, but the Commander had full control of his men and was handling them well, which left the Captain with the rare pleasure of a real fight.

The efficacy of Kyoka's enchantment could not be undersold and that left their radius well controlled in the midst of the chaos, but there was far more order yet to be established here and the men of the King's Army were still struggling even with the Tarlson reinforcements.

Katsuki got sick of just watching their hapless struggle and snapped at Denki and Mina to follow him. He jabbed a finger at Kyoka and despite every cell in his body wishing the sound of her voice would just go away he said, "Keep singing."

Her voice faltered when she nodded agreement and so did her spell, but she regained it before any damage could be done.

Katsuki and the elves broke the line. It reformed behind them, but the Commander's disapproving shout followed them, demanding they stay in the line. It was promptly ignored and the three charged into the brutality of minor demons and the undead.

It was a seemingly endless push through cleaving hands and small bursts of destructive magic, but they remained relentless and relied on the enchantments to their swords and shields to defend them from the attacks of the ether until they eventually made it through to a clustered group of the King's men cornered into the still standing West wall.

Even as he fended off attacks, Katsuki strode right up to the man in a Captain's uniform and shouted over the roar of battle. "Where is the king?"

The Captain was obviously startled and looked over Katsuki with confusion as he cut down a minor demon while maintaining eye contact.

"You're Dawnfelden?" he asked and narrowly missed a burst of magical flame slicing past his ear; it was definitely singed, but the Captain's shock was keeping it from fully registering.

What was it with these Northerners and their constant shock at seeing a Dawnfelden outside of Dawnfell? It was tempting to kick in the teeth of the next person to make that extremely obvious, and not at all shocking, observation.

As he had the thought, an undead without legs clamored along the ground and swung a hand at Katsuki's shin. The pathetic creature didn't have a chance before the heel of Katsuki's foot stamped what was left of it's decayed head into the mud, cracking open its brittle skull. That would have to satisfy his frustration for now.

The King's Captain ducked another strike from a minor demon and threw up his arms before stumbling back and hitting the ground. Katsuki dealt with that attacker as well and the stricken man remained on the ground after his assailant was killed, no shout from Katsuki seeming to shake him from this frozen and unmoving state.

The men around him, Tarlson and Capitol alike, were jumbled, confused, and falling left and right; the only reason any of them were still alive was due to the quick work and nimble strikes of the two cloaked elves compensating for their disorganization.

"Son of a bitch, do I have to do everything myself?" Katsuki shouted at the scattered soldiers barely holding their weak defense, "Form the fuck up and make a damn line!"

They were at first too surprised to act; they didn't know who Katsuki was and the fear in their eyes said they weren't thinking straight. But luckily soldiers were soldiers anywhere he went and understood the tone and voice of an officer when they heard it.

"If you want to see the morning, you'll make a damn line! I'll gut the next man who fucking hesitates," Katsuki lifted his sword to make his threat clear and the men rushed to action.

"Shields in front!" Katsuki continued to shout, putting himself with the front of the line, his own shield at the ready, forming up shoulder to shoulder with them.

Those without shields came behind them and followed Katsuki's demands to strike through the openings between the shieldwall. The air went metallic with the taste of rotten blood and the smell was sweet as it grew stronger with every new body that was dropped before them.

"Captain…"

The officer behind them, still shuddering in the mud, had a perplexed hand in the air, choking on his own lungs as he tried to get to his feet.

The face of an undead was cleaved on the forceful hack of Katsuki's blade over his shield before he ducked behind its safety and shouted for them to keep the formation tight. He fixed the shaken captain with such a vicious look it could have killed a lesser man.

"I'll ask you one more fucking time, Captain," Katsuki barked over the sounds of battle, shrieking demons, and dying soldiers, "Where is the King?"

The officer's jaw fell loose and with a full body shake and a deep swallow he pointed his sword towards the Northern side of the Outpost in the direction of the Pass, merely a looming shadow in the firelight; it was likely the first real use he'd given the blade since Katuski had arrived.

"His Guards protect him… He is at the Pass," the man got out in a stutter.

A seething, demonic hand batted against Katsuki's shield but he barely spared it a thought while his eyes stayed on the Pass, on the cacophony of moving shadow between them and where the King was said to be. He waited, knowing but not daring to think it, until the ground itself shuddered and twisted up while a crack of lightning burst through the sky. It lit the battlefield for a moment, but a moment was all that was necessary to show what they were up against.

Demons, large as life, a Shrike and a Kaolin. At their feet the brambling dead, but in even greater numbers were minor demons. They swarmed the Pass like a colony of ants, the bulk of their force still pushing the Pass rather than dealing with the Tarlson Soldiers who had arrived to quell them. The barrage of battle waged on between Mages and Demons just West of the outpost, but North was the direction of the true terror, the silent horrors.

Katsuki cursed and gutted a demon with a guttural sound.

"Keep the line!" he shouted and drew back from the front line. It was not seamless like his own men might have done, but the mix of Tarlson soldiers and Kings Men scrambled to close the gap he'd made.

With less than no ceremony the Dawnfelden Captain strode right up to the Capitol Captain and backhanded him across the face. He hit the ground with a cry and shook his head with the shock of it.

"What are-?"

"Get control of the situation, Captain!" Katsuki fumed, "Keep these men in line and fucking defend the Outpost while I do the rest of your damn job for you!"

The Captain started to push up to his feet slowly. "What do you mean?" He was still jarred but he wasn't stuttering anymore so the hit has forced some sense back into him.

"Mina! Denki!" Katsuki barked back towards the line, "With me!"

"Captain?"

"Every one of these men's life is in your hands," Katsuki wiped the sword against his leg while two slinking figures emerged and came up on either side of him, "Sit there and piss yourself if you want to their blood on your conscience or fucking pull through and lead."

With a jerk of his head the elves followed him from the semi-circle, back out into the fray, swords and shield at the ready.

The Captain shouted after them, begging Katsuki to stay, but he was deaf to his pleas. The lives of these few men would be nothing compared to what could be lost if the Summoner was not stopped. It might have meant the deaths of every man there to leave them in the hands of that scared fool, but it couldn't disrupt his sleep any more than it was already disturbed to have a few more lives on his own conscience.

They cut their way through the skilless enemy, pushing through to the fallen wall between the outpost and the Pass.

At the edge of the outpost and the start of the battlefield, they were met with magic, shrieking, and a roar that was not familiar to any of the battlefields Katsuki had known. The three of them came to a halt on the precipice of the rubble and saw a Tempest Demon collapse to the earth, crushing demons in its wake and sending a last burst of storm over them. They threw up arms to shield their faces from the blast of rain and cutting wind, then dropped them only to see the shocking, bright red twist of a dragon streaking through the sky and colliding with the form of a second Tempest Demon, wings and claws in a vicious flurry.

Jaws fell, but Denki's expression was merely curious as Katsuki tried to piece together the sudden appearance of a creature that didn't even belong in this Kingdom let alone on a battlefield thousands of miles from Dracos.

"What the-" Mina didn't even try to finish the thought.

Katsuki's arms went into the air. "Since when is there a fucking dragon?"

The sky cracked in red lightning and living tendrils of magic struck the massive beast out of the air before they even had a chance to quantify its presence. The elves covered their sensitive ears when the red scaled reptile plummeted, cried out, and impacted the earth with a thud.

"What was that?" Denki shouted, hands still over ears.

"Blood Magic."

Katsuki knew because he's seen it before, the living tendrils that ripped Major Demons into pieces, powered by the living blood of men. But this wasn't like what he'd seen at Demon's Rise. It didn't attack the Demons, instead it beat the Dragon that had attacked their common enemy to the earth and then turned viciously onto the Cohort before it. It could only mean one thing and it stifled Katsuki in place.

"Katsuki, what do we do?" Denki gripped his knives tighter, looking between the Captain and the devolving battle of Mages and demons.

The living magic, the red lightning, came to a sudden stop mid-attack when a similar power crashed into it. Even Katsuki covered his ears at the clash and felt a wave of disorientation burst over the battlefield as titanic powers collided.

He had to shake himself clear of it and beat himself into a realistic perspective, to understand his limitations. Nana and Shoto's power might be enough to fight the Summoner and however much he wanted to think himself a key aspect in this battle, there was little to nothing he could accomplish against power like this. Normal magic he could mostly defend, but this Fallen power was unmatched.

"We have to protect the King," Katsuki forced his feet to move away from that particular battle, "Let the Mages worry about this."

"Are you serious?" Mina gaped, throwing out a hand towards the far flashier fight Katsuki was walking away from.

"Deadly," he shouted back at them, "Keep up, we have a King to save!"

"Shoto! Shoto! You have to snap out of it!"

The world was blood red and black; daunting, heavy, and static. It was Gaetha, he was certain, but it didn't feel like Gaetha, like the real world. It was like Demon's Rise, but somehow worse than the panicked desperation that made every moment a scramble to survive there. The ether felt heavy here and it was debilitating, all too much, like standing still under choppy waters.

The voice shouting at him to come to his senses was far off, but there was a back against his and flashes of green magic bursting around him. He felt his hands lift and magic leave his body, he felt himself cast spells, but he barely registered them, casting instinctual defenses. There was a low rumble in his ears and a muffling that covered the brutal sounds of battle and the cries of death.

No encouragement from Izuku could break the fog, but something that didn't rely on his muddled sense started echoing in his addled brain and jarred him into a minute consciousness.

"_Shoto, help, you have to stop her!"_

Eijiro's voice in his head came like whiplash. It sounded strained, pained, desperate, mixing well with Izuku's similar sentiments, and Shoto whipped around to find the source of the Dragon's panic rushing across the battlefield.

In the swirling chaos of storm, death, and magic, bright white magic pushed Ochako through the horde of the enemy, cutting through minor demons happlessly and rushing headlong into the fray, all of her focus directed on reaching the grounded dragon with an entire Tempest hovering over him and minor demons rushing to rip him to shreds.

Struck by the same fear he saw on her face, Shoto almost leapt to the same task of protecting Eijiro from the oncoming assault, but what stood between them and the Dragon stilled his feet.

The flashing red, the concentrated, roiling, ether breaking the air with the clash of two Blood Mages battering one another and fending off attacks with the most poignant power he had seen since the fronts.

"Ochako, stop!" Izuku screamed after the girl, but she was blinded to all else but Eijiro.

Sweat flung from Nana's brow and her face clenched in effort at the shrouded figure of her enemy. The staff Izuku had given to her twirled and jabbed in prompt strikes adding an amplification and control in her power, but it met ample resistance with every attack and made no such impact as she had created at The Fronts.

Only one person could have the power to face her down so effortlessly like this.

The Summoner.

Shoto burned a nearby demon in a small, controlled blaze, barely registering he had done it while the cohort behind them battled for their lives with the Kaolin, Tempest and the minor demons that swarmed them.

Another demon crumpled into the dirt in front of Izuku and then a strong fist jerked the font of his robe, shaking him awake with the sheer desperation of his large green eyes.

"Shoto, snap out of it we have to do something! Shoto!"

Izuku's teeth were grit, his feet ready to take him barreling away, and it became clear that the only reason Izuku hadn't chased down the girl was fear of leaving the dazed Mage at his side alone in this state.

Red and white hair tousled together when Shoto shook himself of the remaining hesitation. "I'm fine," Shoto lied.

He pushed Izuku in the direction that Ochako was running and directed himself towards the battle of Blood Magic before them.

"We have to stop Ochako, she's going to get herself killed," Izuku said around a grunt as he threw a minor demon from himself and crushed it into the earth.

"No, we need to help her get to him," Shoto shouted back, "A grounded dragon won't be able to defend itself from a Tempest! We have to get her through."

Izuku wanted to argue, it was clear, he wanted to protect Ochako and Shoto was telling him to let her run further into danger, but he also wasn't given a chance to argue as they fell fully into battle.

Ochako wasn't far ahead, but she was very near the crackling, vicious red that made every part of Shoto quiver and what's worse the demon horde that seemed to be flowing towards them was closing around her. She was defending desperately with spells Shoto had never seen, innovative and natural, yet obscure; the products of Bog Magic. But it wasn't enough and, however viciously Izuku fought, he wasn't fast enough to stop her from being overwhelmed before they could reach her.

That strange deafness and disoriented sense of the world around him started to seep back in and Shoto felt time slow as he concluded what had to be done. He tried not to feel excited about it, tried to see it as the evil thing it was, tried to worry what Izuku would think, but if ever there was a time to call on the powers of the Fallen it was at a time like this; when the people he cared about needed it.

"Shoto, what are you-?" Izuku stuttered in his pace when he saw Shoto stop.

"I'm sorry."

It was a tiny burst of magic, a little power that he pointed to his arm and sliced through the fabric of the robe, opening his flesh to the air. He didn't wince, didn't feel the pain, only the instant rush and the instant pulse of power that came from the fresh Blood turning to Magic in his hands.

"Shoto…" Izuku's voice faded.

Far from what he expected, when the world began to tint in red, everything around him resonated with a clarity he had never experienced before. The very movements of friend and foe alike translated differently, efficiently. The hordes that seemed so terrifying a moment ago took on the same threat as a cluster of insects, something so easily crushed underfoot.

Panic was gone, everything but his focused goal a distant thought.

He exhaled slowly.

Tendrils like bloody, burning hands, extended and powered his reach, crashing across the battlefield, cutting the spawns of the ether like a scythe through a wheatfield and dispersing the storm to nothing. All around Ochako the enemy was ripped to shreds and amidst his power-drunk vision he saw the girl's hands fly over her face in shock and terror. But the magic never touched her, never did so much as graze the hairs on her head.

The spells, the magic, felt like an extension of his own reach, like precision tools, like the most natural and right thing he'd ever done and it filled Shoto's chest with new air he had never breathed before. Even his training with Nana never felt like this, the magic had never gripped him in this way.

Something was different. Maybe it was the strength of the ether in the air around him, maybe the closeness to its vessel, but that deliriousness he'd sensed before was gone, like the Blood Magic had cleared the distractions and enhanced his every sense.

No wonder Nana had smiled when she looked the Archdemon in the eye. Blood Magic was intoxicating.

Seeing that their path was cleared in a single fell swoop, Ochako shook herself of confusion and fear to rush to Eijiro's aid, to save him from the relentless torrent of the Tempest Demon, keeping him from getting back into the air.

Though he obviously wanted to, Izuku hesitated to follow, still looking at Shoto like he was something that needed to be looked after. It was short lived. Shoto's attack had shocked more than just his companions and the fight between Nana and the Summoner came to a sudden halt, the silhouette of the once man, now monster, eyeing Shoto and then the girl trying to run past him.

Izuku acted.

"Ochako, look out!"

A sharp red spire bolted from the blackened hand of the Fallen Mage, but it was clear Izuku would not be able to deflect it in time. It didn't even register concern to Shoto in his current state.

His hand clenched in the air and a viper fast burst of red sprung around the spike of the Summoner's magic, crushing it into a deadly burst of splinters that reverberated back to their caster and knocked the Summoner off his feet.

Ochako barely faltered at her near death experience, so deeply focussed on her goal and Izuku ran happlessly after, as intent to protect her as she was to protect Eijiro.

The three Mages with Blood Magic in their eyes remained still and watchful of each other and Nana gaped shock at him; she hadn't taught him to do that. It was hard to tell if she was impressed or disappointed.

The Summoner took no more than a moment to get his bearings on the situation and retaliated promptly, catching them off guard with a surge of Blood Magic that attacked Nana with abandon, erraticness, the whipping virility of a living inferno. Nana was barely able to defend fast enough to survive it, but the red glowing barrier in front of her absorbed the major damage before it shattered. What did hit her, hit hard enough to knock her to the ground yards away from where she had stood seconds before, whipped away like a doll in the air.

"Nana!"

Shoto screamed her name as he ran between the Summoner and his mentor already being launched from sight. His hands were alive with power, taking the force of the magic that chased her and breaking it, dispersing the red shards around him harmlessly.

The Summoner's shock was apparent, even behind the cloak and the ebbing darkness that fell from him. If Shoto's head was not firing with the intensity of his powers he would have had the same reaction to the swift and efficient use of his magic, but this felt so right and so natural that there was no room for surprise.

He was alive with power, strength, confidence and seeing that there was only a bit of dirt between him and the Summoner, he saw his opportunity. Now was the time. He could end this here and now.

His arms opened and the red glyphs in his hands pulsed with energy. Every ounce of power in his body poured into the magic in his hands and he dumped his physical strength on top of it, fearless of consequence.

He saw the glint of red beneath the hood of the Summoner, the shine of his empowered eyes turning wide on him and the blackened hand rose, glowing with red magic.

The tendrils of Blood Magic lashed at the Summoner like a battering ram, a cat-o-nine whip, and the limbs of a kraken at once. It was enough to devastate a Major Demon in a single attack. Enough to shred whatever humanity was left in this monster into fragments too small to piece back together.

It hit with a crippling force, but not in the way he wanted.

Shoto stuttered, gasped.

The Summoner threw his arms wide open and Shoto's Blood Magic parted like ice versus a hot knife.

Screams, such horrible sounds, filled Shoto's ears as the force of his magic broke the earth around them and crushed demon and Mage alike, nothing spared from it's diverging wake. The ground tilled into bloody, deadly mulch.

Shoto broke off the stream of magic, stopping the attack and choking on the very power and confidence that had driven him to act so recklessly.

What had he done?

The red tint on the world vanished and he stumbled back in shock and horror. Fear of what he'd done clutched his chest agonizingly until he saw the flush of red wings whipping in the sky and heard the shouts from Izuku and Ochako behind the Summoner, still engaged with the enraged Tempest.

It was a meager consolation in light of what his misplaced spell had cut into the stretch of field on either side of his enemy.

"Impressive…" breathed the Summoner, "But idiotic."

Shoto's knees gave out when he tried to step back and he hit the ground with shaking limbs, empty of strength and his magic ability reduced to its dregs. He'd put everything, _everything_, into that attack and there was nothing but minor demon corpses and a few dead Mages to show for it.

That rough taunting from the Summoner was right; he was idiotic.

The Summoner stepped forward and Shoto took a breath he assumed would be his last as the Summoners hand burned red over him. "Still, a Mage with talent like that is too good for the Synod. It's a shame I-"

He stopped, paused mid-sentence, like the very words had been slapped from his tongue.

Shoto held that final breath as the Summoner's head tilted at him. His lips parted, his threatening hand faltering, but he was distracted from even that as the dirt under their feet rattled and rumbled.

The Tempest Demon had barely finished colliding into the earth before the massive force of red scales and muscle coursed through the air at them, twisting and diving with its jaw wide enough to swallow the Summoner whole.

"Shoto, run!"

Izuku's voice echoed through the air in a resounding cry and then everything froze.

Orange light, melded with a creeping, inky black, burst from the Summoner and clung to everything, except himself and Shoto.

Nothing moved. Not the demons. Not the Mages. Not Izuku and Ochako, caught mid motion, rising back to their feet.

Not the storm clouds in the sky. Not even the wind.

Shoto sputtered on any coherent word or thought, gaping at the open maw of a Dragon hovering overhead ready to rip the Summoner in two, but trapped in the moments before he could strike.

He waited for it all to be some trick of his mind, but he lifted his hands in front of his face, saw the tainted black stains etching their way from his fingertips to his knuckles and realized for the first time that there was pain firing up his nerves and corruption moving through his skin.

The ether moved inside of him and, but the world was still.

The Summoner stepped closer and flexed his black hand as a weary gasp passed his shadowed lips. He stumbled and caught himself before he could collapse, steadying himself to stand in front of Shoto and stare down at him through the tint of his hood.

He felt like prey, locked in the hypnotic gaze of a predator, seeing clearly his doom but unable to run from it or attack it.

But his poor reaction didn't seem to matter because the threat in the man's posture lowered and his ether black hands pushed the corners of his hood away from his face.

Disgust overwhelmed fear as Shoto observed the patchwork of tainted, blackened skin marking his neck and forming into streaks that swept into his face, wrapping under his eyes and chin like the strap of a helmet, telling the thousand stories of the thousand times he had committed the heinous sins of Fallen Magic. It even seemed to affect the color of his hair, because it wasn't quite black, but wasn't quite red, like the two colors were fighting to both be his at once, the red strong in the glint of firelight.

The blue eyes, tinted in the red of Blood Magic, were narrow on him, like they had a thousand questions and Shoto was the holder of all answers.

The Summoner cracked the unnatural silence with the sound of his sharp, strong, yet youthful, voice. "Who are you, boy?"

Barely registering the question, Shoto lifted his hand towards the frozen word and continued to gape.

"What have you done?"

"Given us a brief opportunity," the Summoner waved away the question with a blackened hand, "Now tell me who you are before I get impatient…"

"I am... no one," It was as truthful as he could be considering Shoto was by every definition no one of consequence, especially not to this man. "I'm just a mage from the Synod."

"Unlikely," the Summoner touched his chin, blinking down at him, "The Synod does not have Blood Mages. It doesn't even have Mages that are worth a damn. I asked who you are, answer me!"

"Why do you care?" Shoto panted, trying to back away and faltering on his weak limbs, "Why are you dragging this out? Aren't you going to kill me either way?"

The blue of his eyes didn't budge from their intensity on Shoto and the inky black on his finger traced the corner of his lip. The slip in his sleeves showed a myriad of scars all over his skin, marks of Blood Magic use, but they were all clean, precise and not a drop of blood was on him, just like when Shoto had used it the first time and his bloody face became suddenly clean and practically healed.

Tired and impatient as he seemed, the Summoner stayed fairly calm, but viciously resolut. "Answer the question."

Shoto hesitated and swallowed hard.

"My name is Shoto… But I'm telling the truth, I'm a Synod Mage. Nana taught me Blood Magic so that we could fight you… So we could end the Summoning..."

The Summoner was unaffected by Shoto's words, only eyed him with deeper curiosity, "Shoto...Shoto...Shoto."

Every repetition of his name was claws through his skin. Why did he care? Was the Summoner taunting him because he had actually served as a threat to him? Or maybe he simply liked to play with his victims before killing them.

The Summoner pouted a thoughtful, black marred lip as he moved even further into Shoto's space. The blue of his eyes was sharper now, pulled apart by Shoto at the seams to assess every visible inch of him in a way that turned Shoto's stomach.

Weakened as he was, Shoto tried to scurry away, but the Summoner was quicker than him. He took hold of his face and turned it in the firelight, staring for a long time at the three pronged scar that had deformed his face and then at the two tones of his eyes.

Shoto shoved and kicked out at him, but the Summoner was undeterred, behaving as if he were even unaware of Shoto's struggle to push him away as his observations brought him to sceptical glare.

"It's not possible," the Summoner whispered to himself.

"What's not possible?"

Still heedless of Shoto's fight or discomfort, the Summoner twisted his head painfully to the right, pushing his hair away from his ear, taking a disturbing amount of liberty with Shoto's inability to truly defend himself.

"What are you doing?" Shoto sputtered.

A stray finger pressed into a spot just behind his ear, to a place where he could feel his heartbeat pulse. It was the location of yet another scar, one he was born with, one that was unearned and had always stayed easily hidden behind the far more distracting fall of his hair.

"Shoto…" the Summoner said the name again with disbelief and lifted his eye from the marking to Shoto's wide eyed expression.

Something told Shoto to be still and think a moment and in that moment the Summoner's strange intentions became clear.

He believed, somehow, that he knew Shoto. That look in his eye wasn't insanity, it was recognition. But Shoto didn't know him, he didn't recall his face among any Mages he had known at the Magesteriums, although he would likely be unrecognizable now behind the layers of marring sin, even if Shoto had known him.

And yet there was something familiar in the bit of humanity he could still see in his skin and eyes. Shoto was almost completely certain they had never met, but he couldn't shake that there was similarity with someone he had met, though he couldn't say who.

When the Summoner finally loosened his grip, the pressure Shoto had kept pushing against his shoulders sent them forcefully away from one another.

Shoto shook his head, lost and trying with all his might to gather his wits and place the Summoner somewhere in his mind. "Do I know you…?"

"No," the Summoner said, "You don't."

There was very little in his expression and his eyes were distant; they were quantifying the unquantifiable.

With whatever strength he still had in him, Shoto pushed himself back to his feet and the Summoner slowly rose to do the same.

"Then why-?"

"I know you."

"How can you know me? I don't know you." Shoto sucked his teeth on the tender feeling in his fingers, trying not to look at the stains and praying they were not the permanent sort Nana had warned him about, the type that was burned across the Summoner's body.

"You…" To Shoto's complete shock, the Summoner choked on his words.

The world around them flickered and the glimmer of gold and black magic shuddered in it's instability. Shoto knew well the signs of failing magic and while it flooded him with relief, it also drew his attention to what they were about to be thrown back into.

The Summoner seemed to understand this as well and moved out of the attack of the still hovering dragon while he distractedly fisted his dark hair.

Shoto's pulse bounded anxiously as he tried to do the same and get his weak body away from where Eijiro was stalled moments before colliding with, away from the brutal teeth and certain doom of standing in a Dragon's way.

"I never dared to think you survived or that you would have been allowed to exist," the Summoner muttered.

The illusion, the all consuming silence fluttered and prepared to release, but somehow Shoto didn't want it to dissipate, even though its very existence had terrified him up until that moment. It was no longer an unsettling phenomenon, but a force that was staving off their return to the horrors of this battle and the deaths that were certain to follow.

But more than that, far more selfishly than that, Shoto was gripped by questions, questions that needed answers. Questions that only this man could answer and his window to ask them was closing quickly.

"Summoner!" Shoto shouted, "What do you mean? How do you know me?"

Blue eyes angled back towards him in the last agonizing seconds before the world came crashing in and Shoto's entire world was shattered on the simple, smug reply from the man they had hunted across the country.

"I'm not the Summoner, Shoto."


	18. Blood Ties

The maw of the dragon snapped, missing its target and nearly catching Shoto in its dive. A buzz filled Shoto's delirious head as the earth churned on the impact of the beast.

The near miss didn't stall them for long and Shoto and Eijiro scrambled back up quickly, looking to each other to assure the other hadn't been injured by the clumsy attack of the young dragon. His red eye was wide on Shoto while the Mage beside him panted and searched out where the Summoner -or rather the man who claimed he wasn't the Summoner- had gone.

"_Mage! I'm sorry! Are you alright?"_

"_I'm fine,"_ Shoto shook away the dragon's concern now that he saw him getting back up, shaking off the collision like nothing had even happened.

The surrounding darkness swallowed the man back up, but, in the fireglow, a red hue arose from a place more surrounded by darkness than any other and Shoto knew that it was him.

"Quick, we have to stop him before he can get away!" Shoto tried to run and his knee hit the dirt.

Eijiro swung his tail and crushed a few scrambling undead as his muscles tensed with indecision. "_Are you hurt?"_

Shoto shook his head. "_Just drained."_

"Shoto!"

His name came from multiple directions and his eyes darted to keep up. Nana came up behind him and immediately helped lift him to his feet while Izuku and Ochako came from his left to group up.

"What happened?" Nana looked him over and lifted one of his hands in front of her eyes.

He jerked it away quickly so that Izuku couldn't see, but there was little chance he missed the creeping darkness on his skin.

"I used all my strength and so did he," Shoto scanned the battlefield for him, searching for that red pulse and the consuming darkness, "But he's stronger… And he's not the Summoner..."

"What?" Izuku gaped.

"Impossible," Nana concurred, "the Honing Stone led us right to him."

"I don't know how either, but we still have to stop him," Shoto used Nana as a prop to move himself forward, heart racing on the multiplying concerns.

Ochako opened her hands and looked around, "But you just said he wasn't-"

"Everyone down!"

Shoto fell from Nana's hold and was caught by Izuku as she shouted, hands throwing out overhead with an inky gray magic bursting from her hands. Crimson tendrils collided with the barrier as soon as it came alive and fell over them,the tendrils rushing past without touching them.

Every breath stopped as the devastating power of Blood Magic washed past them and the screams of the Cohort rattled the battlefield.

"Izuku!" Nana yelled over the effort to hold the magic, "Ward us, now!"

The apprentice's mouth gaped and he looked around, uncertain. He locked eyes with Shoto the longest, gauging his ability to stand on his own and found a confirming nod.

"Okay…"

Izuku pressed his staff tip to Shoto's chest and placed a shaking hand on his forehead, eyes closing as he called on a Synod skill Shoto had never been given the chance to learn. With a twist of his wrist a glyph appeared and pulsed a moment before leaving a gray glow around Shoto.

A nervous breath left Izuku as he looked him over briefly. Shoto nodded to let him know it worked and the green eyed boy rushed to do the same to the others in the bubble Nana had created.

"What is he doing?" Ochako asked while Izuku placed a gray hue around Eijiro.

"Placing wards," Shoto shivered, "To keep him from draining blood from us while we're still alive. All it takes is a small cut and he could devastate us."

"What about the other Mages?" her eyes went wide when Izuku came to her next, but she was met with silence.

The rush of magic around them muffled what was happening beyond, but it was clear that unless they had protected themselves similarly beforehand, the Cohort was a lost cause.

"_Can't you do this too?"_ Eijiro asked, sniffing his paw and flicking his tongue, like he was tasting the magic around him.

Shoto leaned heavy on his staff. "_I was never taught. It's something they teach at the Center Magesterium..."_

For once there were too many other burning concerns in Shoto's head to experience his usual jealousy over Izuku's experience, but he was sure his mental tone was still bitter.

Izuku finished Ochako's ward quickly and then warded himself last.

"Aren't you going to ward, Nana?" Ochako asked, moving closer to Eijiro's side in a battle ready stance.

"Her staff will protect her," he swallowed, "It's a Blood Mage staff…"

Shoto blinked at the staff that Izuku had given her, lifted in the air, currently defending them from Blood Magic and he felt his head ache with the added questions he had no time or attention to ask.

"We're ready," Izuku squeezed his staff and narrowed eyes in the direction of attack, standing between it and Shoto. Far from wanting to be protected, he glared at the back of Izuku's head, but he didn't move out of the position; he feared he'd collapse if he tried.

"Not a moment too soon," Nana groaned and her hands fell, staff butt hitting the ground.

The glow of light evaporated and the chill of the night and the overwhelming darkness cut straight through them. The red burn of Blood Magic and even the flicking of flames were gone and a still battlefield surrounded them, filled with drained, lifeless husks. The battle beyond them waged on, the Outpost still scrambled with battle cries and clanking metal and the armies warring for the pass were ceaseless in their onslaught. But here, in their own little piece of war, they were all that remained standing. The demons were gone and the remaining Major Demon had turned its attention back towards causing vicious storms over the Pass and those fighting there.

Shoto shook to his bones, not from weakness or the cold, but from horror.

"Izuku… What's happening?" Ochako said in a near whisper.

Izuku didn't answer, how could any of them? Even Nana seemed stricken to silence at the emptiness around them.

A deep, maroon glow flickered back to life in the time it took them to gasp and the heaviness of the ether dropped back onto Shoto in full.

"Nana…" Shoto choked, feeling himself go dizzy again.

"I can't," she swallowed, "He's drained everything around us. I have only my own strength and you've drained the last of yours."

Eijiro shifted a paw forward and if scales could rise like hackles they would be doing so. A growl, low and guttural faced the methodical approach of the man glowing with Blood Magic.

"_I'll tear him apart."_

Not only did Shoto doubt that the dragon was capable of winning against a fully powered Blood Mage, but he wanted answers before they or anyone else managed to kill this man. If he wasn't the Summoner than who was he and who was the real Summoner? And he wanted to know, as selfish as it was, how this Fallen Mage knew him.

"You should all leave," Nana opened her hands in preparation for a defensive spell, "This power is nothing to be toyed with."

"We aren't leaving," Ochako said.

Izuku concurred and Shoto glared stubbornly.

There wasn't the opportunity for disappointment from Nana, she had to cast her defenses instead. Green and red clashed before them and Nana groaned on the impact, while everyone else startled and then leapt to action.

The fight itself went by so quickly, Shoto hadn't realized it was happening until it was practically over.

In a rash act, the dragon dove at the Fallen Mage and Izuku and Ochako rushed after him. They were warded from the drain of their blood and power, not from the strength of a Blood Magic attack. The two Mages had to immediately pull themselves from the impact of an entire dragon being thrown back at them and then use the rest of their energy to stop tendrils of Blood Magic from wrending them limb from limb.

Nana's defense was broken seconds after it rose.

Whatever barren strength remained in Shoto pushed him between Nana and the Fallen Mage again and he threw out a meager attack that was easily fended away. Like a giant, living hand t tendrils swung back around and slammed onto them both, pushing them to the ground. Shoto expected to be crushed, and though the pressure was tight, his bones did not crack and, somehow the Fallen Mage did not break them.

Instead he turned his deadly focus to Ochako and Izuku.

"Get out of there! Izuku, Ochako run!" Shoto screamed on a hoarse throat.

A large red body crashed in front of them and took the impact. Eijiro roared and reared, swiping paws down to battle the magic like it was a tangible limb and, though his strikes were powerful, they weren't fast enough.

Shoto's breath was snatched away.

The Magic still managed to hit Izuku, so harshly Shoto could hear something crack over the rush in his ears and the young Mage went flying towards Shoto and Nana. He hit the ground just in front of them and immediately tried to inch his way back up to his feet while Ochako screamed at Eijiro to get out of there.

"Red, run! Stop! You have to stop!"

Pushing against the force did nothing and Nana was struggling to squirm her arms free to aid their escape, but Shoto was dumbfounded, arms weighted with panic as the dragon continued to fight back and the renegade girl frantically tried to protect him.

"Red!" Ochako barely dodged the attacks as she tried to get him to listen, but Eijiro kept going, lifting onto his back legs and flaring his wings in an attempt to crush the Fallen Mage with the full weight and impact of his body.

"He's going to get himself killed!" Izuku choked and collapsed back from his attempts to stand, clutching an arm around his torso, "He's exposing his weak spots."

Shoto's eyes widened and his mind opened on Izuku's words.

"_Eijiro! Your underbelly! You're leaving yourself open!"_

"_I'm- oomph!"_

It was strange to hear another person's thought disrupted like a broken sentence, but it echoed in Shoto's head with the verbal growl the Dragon emitted. The living magic had found his weakness and ripped against the soft scales of his belly in a thick bloody cut.

Ochako shrieked fear and rage.

Eijiro stumbled back and dropped to all fours, feebly batting away the magic as pained noises trilled out of his long throat. Ochako put herself between the Mage and Eijiro, but the attack of the Fallen faltered purposefully, hesitated just off of them as he took a few steps closer to them.

A paw as big as a man swiped and missed and Eijiro's groaned whimper slipped from his forked tongue. Ochako rushed their attacker, but he pushed away her magic with the flick of his wrist, the space between them closing to nothing.

Izuku looked ready to explode, but everytime he tried to move, his body forced him back down and ripped a cry of pain from him.

With her magic being so easily beaten back, Ochako swung a desperate fist at him. That too was knocked away just as easily and he took her effortlessly by the throat, lifting her feet off of the ground. The Blood Magic tendrils in his hands poured over the dragon like they did to Nana and Shoto and the already pained beast was forced to the ground and restrained.

Eyes that glowed dark red searched the choked expression of the girl in his hand.

"A creature like this shouldn't be a pet to a pathetic Mage like you," he practically growled at her.

Ochacko's tan fingers slapped and pulled on the taught arm while her dangling feet kicked out uselessly.

Despair had replaced panic in Izuku's eyes. "Ochako…"

"That's not…" Ochako scraped and choked, red faced with low air and rage, "He's-"

The Mage squeezed tighter and strangled out her words. Eijiro roared and pulled on the restraint, mouth gaping and snapping, but nothing more than a spark falling.

The Fallen Mage scoffed at Eijiro's attempts. "What sort of dragon can't even breathe fire?"

Izuku failed again and again to stand, to even conjure a full spell; his teary eyes were blurred with pain.

Nana managed a burst of magic and it did nothing but make the magic hand squeeze tighter. Shoto's mind scrambled. They were powerless… They were going to die. And, if what the man had said was true, this wasn't even the Summoner. Even if they died killing him, they would die accomplishing nothing.

They were failing their world right this moment and Shoto couldn't abide it, couldn't let this be the pathetic end to his already pathetic life.

"Izuku!" Nana snapped with a shudder from her own failing strength and pain, "Izuku look at me!"

His eyes panned slowly, but there was no time for that.

"Remove your ward," she demanded.

Pallor overwhelmed even the pink of his cheeks.

"I don't have any power left to give him, but you do," Nana said, "Do it now, there's no time."

Shoto hated that he understood what she wanted, hated that she was asking Izuku of all people to be complicit to his sins. But they had no choice and a last glance at the angered Mage choking Ochako and restraining Eijiro pushed Izuku past his horror. They weren't dead yet, the Mage was busy taunting them, but they would be soon if they didn't act quickly.

"Izuku, I can't ask you to do this-"

Deft fingers were already moving, creating glyphs that tapped his head and chest. The power dissipated around him and even that effort twisted his body in a way that made him keel back over. All he could do was throw out an outstretched arm towards Shoto and grip his ribs in chopped groans.

"Be careful, Shoto!" Nana warned, but "careful" was for someone with time.

Magic sliced from Shoto's finger and split the skin of his forearm open cleanly. Shoto could practically taste it, the sensations of a Mage's blood in his hands as pure, raw magic to be molded into anything he desired. It's pulse was rejuvenating and the only thing that stopped him from pulling every drop he could get a hold of was the agonized scream of his friend and the tight grip of Nana's hand digging into his shoulder.

The echo of the ether became a sharp clarity and his hunger for power leveled into rationality. He stopped, taking full control of himself and blinked into a red hued world.

The crushing tendrils became a featherweight that flung from him and Nana with a turn of his hand, the surge of countering magic ripping it away and obliterating it.

The Fallen Mage started to shout, but his words were swallowed in the rush of slashing red and cleaving magic trying to shred him to pieces. He had to drop Ochako to defend himself and his tether on the dragon loosened enough for Eijiro to pull free too. But with the mage girl crumpled in a choked ball and the dragon barely able to rise from his wounds, they were the least of the Fallen Mage's concerns now.

The sky cracked in red bursts as red Magic collided, but this wasn't like their fight before. The power in Izuku's blood was nothing he'd experienced before, it was nothing like using his own blood. It didn't offer the same intense power, but it made him sharper, sped up every sense and made every attack fast and relentless.

But his enemy didn't fight back with the same aggression he had fought with before. His magic was careful, much like the magic hand that had held Shoto; it was enough to hold him off, not enough to kill him.

"Shoto, wait!" The Fallen Mage barked over the thunderous cracks of their power.

Shoto was not so inclined.

Attack followed vicious attack and Shoto pushed the powerful Blood Mage to back away, to lose his ground. He shouted again and again for Shoto to stop and listen to him, but all Shoto could see was a darkened, marred face with red eyes that had nearly killed the people under his protection. All he could see was a life he needed to end.

"You have to listen to me!" the Mage said.

Once again ignored, the Mage lost the last ounce of his reserve and patience.

"I said, stop!"

The world split in red around him and the force of the Mage's magic came down on him harsher than ever to wrench the Magic attacks from Shoto's hands and bind his arms in the grip of it's tendrils. Shoto startled at the interruption and gasped when his feet left the ground and he was held aloft by his outstretched arms before the raised hand of the mage. Frustration burned through those intense, reddened eyes.

It was clear now that the Mage had been holding back and Shoto had once again overestimated his own ability.

"I've drained the life of every Mage here, you cannot expect you have the power to stop me with the meager blood of one untapped boy!" The Mage screamed, "Why will you not listen to me?"

"You are Fallen!" Shoto spat, trying with all his might for the Blood Magic still inside of him to weild the strength to fight off the restraints that bound him, "You try to murder my friends in front of me and you want me to sit still and listen to you?"

"They are in the way," The Mage's hand tensed and the tendrils squeezed painfully, "There is so much I have to tell you, still. There was no time before, but now that I control this battlefield you will listen to what I have to say. I need to explain."

"Explain what?" Shoto shouted.

There was a wad of anger gripping at his insides still tinted in the redness he saw the world in. He was curious before, now he felt taunted, belittled by this display of power that held him. He had already been humiliated by his ill begot attack before, but this time the world wasn't slowed to a halt to spare him the onlooking eyes of those he'd failed.

"I need to explain why I know you," The Fallen Mage looked around, like he had to speak in a hurry lest something interrupt them again, "Why I won't kill you."

His rage came to halt for the sake of confusion.

"Shoto, you-"

His words were cut by the cry of a charge and thunder of horses.

A small battalion broke from the battle with the demon horde, galloping towards the Fallen threat with raised swords. Whether it was in an attempt to rescue them or a simple response to the daunting powers that whipped and destroyed everything around them, it didn't matter. For Shoto, it was an instant of hope in a seemingly hopeless situation.

The Fallen Mage dropped one of Shoto's arms and launched the tendrils to intercept his new attackers. Shoto threw a cut of red toned flame with his newfound freedom, but the immense power in just the Mage's one hand caught it and quelled the fire in its place.

It gave the Tarlson soldiers the time and opening to get in close, but it also sent the Blood Magic tendrils in a frenzy to grapple him and pin his arms useless to his sides. He was forced back to the ground and held on his knees, all while the Fallen Mage effortlessly swept away the battalion.

The bulk of them fell immediately, but for the rest the enchantment on their weapons and armor deflected the Magic long enough to get them close. Close enough to swing at him. Close enough for Shoto to recognize the leader as Lord Commander Natsuo.

Holding Shoto from the fight was like an afterthought to him. With one hand he lashed out vicious power that could only end in the complete decimation of the men who had come to stop him.

"Commander, leave, you cannot-"

Shoto gagged, choked on the slither of the tendrils wrapped around his mouth, blocking all but his nose.

The Mage threw his arm and the tendrils turned to blades that effortlessly impaled their horses like needles through fabric. The dying shrieks of men and horses made a horrible symphony as they ripped up through the steeds to rip into their riders and drain them into pale husks.

Lord Commander Natsuo was quick to react, disengaging from his horse, launching himself from the saddle just before the beast was torn into. He avoided the fate of his men, but jarred his head against the ground instead, rattle his skull inside of the helm.

Blood dripped down Natsuo's head as he tossed the helm aside to wipe it from his eyes. He spared not a moment to even gape with horror at the decimation of his men, but swung his sword relentlessly at the tendrils that continued to beat at him, using the many enchantments he had on his armor and weapons to protect him.

In his time at the fronts or in any other engagement since, Shoto had never seen someone fend off Blood Magic in this way, but every place the tendrils tried to impact or rip at him, they hit enchantment only to be beaten back immediately by shield and blade.

Perhaps simply frustrated with the constant defection of his attacks, the Fallen Mage drew back his attack, hovering the Magic nearby, ready to go at him again at a moments notice, but pausing to reassess his tactic.

That's when the Mage and the Lord Commander came eye to eye for the first time and everything truly seemed to stand still.

The crimson over the Mage's eyes remained dominant over the blue beneath, but his expression softened slightly the longer he stared at the soldier wiping the blood from his face with his sleeve and shifting his weight in preparation to leapt back into action.

Between himself and the Fallen Mage, the Lord Commander stood ready to kill. To Shoto's right Ochako was stumbling to the dragon's side as he groaned and cowered away from his severe beating. To his left Nana had dropped to a crouch over Izuku, her hand glowing white against his chest as the apprentice continued to sob on the pain inflicted by both Shoto and the Fallen Mage.

There was nowhere to look that wasn't horrible and terrifying, nothing around him that denoted that same hope he'd felt when the soldiers had first ridden to him.

But then the Blood Magic retracted, pulled back to the Fallen Mage, even releasing Shoto from his intense grip, dropping him into a fit of gasps and coughs as his own swirl of Blood Magic dissipated.

"Fate has taken this day mysteriously in hand," the Mage said softly, head tilting at the Lord Commander as his mouth twisted to a sneer, "Lord Natsuo Todoroki…"

Natuso stiffened and his voice held a tremor when he responded.

"Summoner… I demand you surrender yourself."

The Fallen Mage narrowed his eyes on Natsuo, taking a step closer to him, tauntingly.

"The Lord isn't watching. You don't have to pretend you don't know me…"

Natsuo's sword tilted up, making the Mage think better of his continued approach, "Fight or surrender, now."

"You don't want that. You'll lose."

"Then I'll fucking die doing my duty," Natsuo said, "I say again, stand down, Mage."

The frustration Shoto had witnessed in the Fallen Mage before was rising again and his free hand shook before lashing out a black cut of magic just in front of Natsuo's feet. The Commander stumbled back, but held his defenses, eyeing the warning shot and the man who'd thrown it with disdain.

"I demand you acknowledge me!" The Mage screamed and Shoto couldn't help startling on the broken sound, "Natsuo, don't deny me like everyone else…"

Emotion that Shoto would have believed Natsuo incapable of before this moment, strangled his words.

"I would be disgusted to say I even recognize your face now."

The deep confusion flushed away from Shoto in recollection of what Tensei had told them just hours before and he scrambled back to his feet, still half breathless.

"You're the eldest son of Lord Enji," Shoto glanced between the two for confirmation, "The one Commander Tensei said became a Fallen Mage… the one your father kept from the Synod."

Natsuo arched a look at Shoto that made him take a full step back, "The Commander should know better than to spread the black marks of our family to strangers."

The Fallen Mage's face tightened.

"But I'm correct," Shoto demanded.

"I won't have my family name slandered by association to this monster."

"A monster?" The Fallen Mage's response was disgust and amusement, "Well then I must have inherited it! The true monster is the one who made me this way, the one who betrayed me over pressure from the Synod!"

"You chose your own ending, Summoner" Natsuo hissed, "It's pathetic to blame Lord Enji for your poor decision making."

In a motion that made Shoto shiver, the Mage's head tilted back the other way and the crystal blue of his eyes seemed to burn through the red sheen.

"Has he made a monster out of you too, little brother? Did he break your mind like the rest of ours? Are we a family of monsters, now?"

"I am no monster."

Natuso looked to the mangled shreds of human beings that were left in scraps on the battlefield, already so littered with death.

"Only a monster is capable of this and I'm not, Summoner."

Both went quiet, red tinted blues battled steel-cold grays, but there were tremors in both of their hands, voices on the edge of losing their composure.

"You use these false titles like I am no one to you… Call me by my name!"

The Fallen Mage demanded acknowledgement and it pushed Natsuo to spit his words with the brutality of an axe.

"I have no brother! Touya is dead! You are an abomination that bears the maimed image of his face."

Shoto darted his attention back and forth from them and his injured friends, tuning into the soft crying of Izuku, the chittering displeasure of Eijiro, and the continued coughing and gasping of Ochako. He didn't want to abandon Natsuo to this fight, but from what he had seen, this wasn't a fight any of them had a chance of winning and if there was a chance to get the others to safety he was going to take it.

Shoto got only a step back before the red of the Mage, Touya's, eyes flared up. His hand cut the air and the very presence of the ether in the air seemed to come alive to push him forward. Shoto had released his hold on the Blood Magic, but he saw red again. It was living, not solid like the tendrils, but forceful like hurricane winds.

It dragged him towards the Fallen Mage and when Shoto swung his staff to defend himself it was wrenched from his hands and thrown away. It placed him face to face with Touya and then dispersed.

"Shoto," he whispered, getting uncomfortably close, red pulsing hand lifting, threatening, but not acting.

Shoto grit his teeth and the hand turned to fist at his side.

But he hesitated and the harsh red started to ease from Touya's eyes, the persistent anger he displayed, easing away into something pained. The look shook and trapped Shoto and he couldn't grasp why.

The ground trembled and the already shadowy, darkened sky was blotted with the immense shadow of flaring wings and the poised body of a dragon stepping into what was surely about to be a fight.

"A dragon…?" Natsuo gasped, more frustrated than fearful as the sword swung out defensively towards Eijiro.

Seeing the futility in this and the blur of Ochako dashing behind him towards Nana and Izuku, Shoto saw the diversion in Eijiro's actions. His wounds weren't fully healed, but they were patched enough for him to be moving, to escape if need be, but he was in no fighting condition.

"_Come with me Mage, we need to get away from this man."_

Touya didn't even look at the approaching beast, but his hand lifted threateningly again and Shoto had no choice but to step in.

His palm went up, a silent demand, stopping Eijiro in his tracks as he called through his mind.

"_Eijiro, wait! Stay back."_

"_But-" _

"_Trust me... "_

Eijiro's muscles tensed with the rattle of his scales frilling like raised hackles, as a low growl rumbled up his throat. He obviously didn't like the order, but he was showing his faith in the Mage by listening to his order.

"How did you-?" Natsuo marveled at the dragon who had seemingly responded to a mere gesture from Shoto.

"Incredible," Touya looked between him and the dragon, "I knew I couldn't have been wrong."

Personal space diminished as Touya took a visual assessment of Shoto and it twisted his gut when the blackened fingers came a breath away from the skin of his face. It wasn't threatening, just fascinated, amazed.

"Don't you see it?" Touya said, "The scars don't hide that much. There was never a child that looked like he did."

Shoto shivered when Touya's index finger tapped above each of his eyes. The tone of Eijiro's growl deepened.

"One for him and one for her."

"You're spouting nonsense," Natsuo hissed, taking cautious steps away from the dragon to refocus on the Mage.

Shoto didn't understand what Touya was saying either, but he already felt that he didn't like the meaning. The recognition was uncomfortable from a face so strange to him.

"This color too, I've only seen this once," Touya's finger went up to brush quickly and lightly on the two toned part of hair, "Never on anyone else. None except one… I thought I'd failed… But here you are, my proof."

"Proof of what?" Shoto barely managed to speak, frozen with fear at Touya's proximity.

"Proof that I was right," Touya met Natsuo's stare, "That the act that I was called a monster for was good… That it wasn't wrong..."

"You are a monster," Natsuo insisted, "We all know what you tried to do… We also know you failed and that being successful wouldn't have changed anything."

"It would have changed everything!" Touya shouted, "And if father had just trusted me and not betrayed me to the Synod everything would have been different! I was successful, Natsuo! Father deceived us."

The hand that had touched so delicately before, turned violent and before Shoto could think to fight him off, Touya had taken his shoulder and his hair in a fist and spun the younger Mage around to face Natsuo.

It was useless to try and pry away the magically imbued hands that had taken him, but Shoto fought futilely anyway, even as he mentally shouted for Eijiro to stand his ground and not intervene. Shoto hated this position, the touch of a Fallen hand and the helplessness he felt versus his enemy's strength, but Touya's words denoted that he was not intending to harm Shoto, even if his scalp burned with the pull of his hair and his neck ached with the way Touya held him like he was restraining prey.

"This is him!" Touya produced a pained hiss from Shoto when his grip intensified, "This is what I did! This is why I was exiled from my home."

Natsuo's nose crinkled, his eyes narrowing on the young Mage he was being forced to look at. He watched Touya's finger tap that same birthmark he had been so fascinated with before.

"That is a mark of the magic I used," Touya said, "This…this is him..."

Shoto's heart raced. "What do you mean...?"

"I don't believe you…" Natsuo's voice became a whisper, but his tone was not so obstinate as simply upset.

"You don't believe I could do it?" Touya scoffed, "You see what I've done to this field of battle and you think I'm incapable of resurrecting a stillborn child from the grip of the ether?"

Shoto went cold in his hands and his disposition to struggle died in shocked confusion. The longer Natsuo stared and the more his upset turned bitter on his face, the more panic rose in Shoto's chest. He didn't know why. He wasn't even quite sure what they were saying.

"Stillborn…?" Shoto said it breathily.

Beyond where Natsuo stood, Ochako and Nana's faces were lifted from Izuku to stare, to gape. Shoto's gut was in his feet under the inspection of every eye, including the enormous red iris hovering close and cautious.

"You expect me to believe you recognize this Mage from a few moments you knew him as an infant?" Natsuo's face was marred with disgust and skepticism.

Shoto could feel Touya's fists tremble as he spoke.

"She named him Shoto. I remember that clearly… Natsuo, I could never forget it! How could I forget that she finally looked happy? Another of her children entered this world in death, but she cradled him and smiled. You know she never smiled. She couldn't see that he was merely a corpse, lost to another insane delusion,and she named him in front of me. She named him Shoto. You and I are so plain, but you know our brothers and sisters were not so. Even if they lived but a day, we saw children unlike any other. Even Fuyumi dulled our features in comparison. I have never forgotten them and I know you have not either. I especially could not forget the lifeless stare of silver and blue that looked up from my mother's arms that night or the perfect balance of fire and ice on his pale head."

Natsuo's face drained and Shoto's gut lurched. He couldn't be upset that every gaze had turned to horror on him when he felt so much of the same sickness.

"_You were born dead?"_

"No…" Shoto responded out loud, startling at the dragon's voice in his head at a time like this.

"I put that mark on you!" The Fallen Mage's shout made Shoto's ears ring and his chest tense, "I wrenched you from my mother's arms and called on the darkest powers I could reach. I pulled your wandering soul from the edge of the ether and forced life in your flesh by the blood of my own body."

"Necromancy and Blood Magic at once?" Natsuo hissed.

Shoto blinked rapidly. "That's not possible… Is it?"

In all his years learning at the Magesterium, he had never heard of such a thing. The Fallen Magics were all talked about in distinction, even if a Mage had committed more than one in his life. Of course, Shoto couldn't rightly say it was ever considered to be impossible by the Synod… Just that it was never really considered at all.

But he had never considered that he might find the unsettling nature of his origins among strangers on a battlefield that reeked of death and ether either.

It was easy to accept that the man who they had tracked in hopes of killing the Summoner might be the brother of the Tarlson Lord Commander, but to think himself a part of this familial mixture was enough to break the seams of his sensibility. Reality didn't feel like itself anymore and the echo of the ether was becoming less an ambient sound and more a pulsing headache trying to drown him.

"I was right when I called you an abomination." Natsuo spat disgust.

"For saving our brother's life?" Touya's cry rippled around him in a dark shudder that made the dragon's claws dig deeper into the earth.

_Brother?_

Something about that word seemed like it was fictitious, made up on the spot, or part of a language he'd long since forgotten how to speak.

"Who are you to decide life and death?" There was a fidgetiness in Natsuo's stance and his hand started to weld itself to his sword.

"If you could have prayed and willed every one of our brothers and sisters back from the dead would you really have hesitated to do so? If not for them, for the sake of our mother!"

"That is not- it…"

The Lord Commander was stuck in an incomplete thought, darting glances between the two Mages until finally he said, stiffly, "I would not have resorted to Fallen Magic."

"Liar," Touya bit, his impatience winning over his plea for his brother to listen.

Red crawled back up his arms and into his eyes as he threw Shoto towards Natsuo and opened his arms wide, reengaging the magic that warped through him.

Shoto stumbled between them and took a frantic look between the Mages and the overhanging dragon, just waiting for the order to strike. Natsuo was more than ready to make that happen and Touya was rising to the challenge splendidly all while Shoto sat in the center of it all, hardly grasping his own existence, but knowing he was all that stood in the way of another bloodbath.

"Wait!" Shoto held up a hand to Touya and one to Natsuo, demanding them be still, "You've said we're family…"

"We are," Touya's eyes lit up, moving in closer to Shoto again. The younger Mage backed a step away on instinct and it forced Touya to a disappointed halt.

"Then there is no need for all of this bloodshed," Shoto said, "The Commander is your brother and I see in your eyes you don't wish to kill him, just as you have refused to kill me. My friends shouldn't be subject to this wrath either. We came seeking the Summoner and if you are not the Summoner, then our war is not with you…"

"Not the Summoner...?" Natsuo frowned.

The thin line of Touya's lips twisted on them and the knot of anticipation in Shoto's chest tightened.

"Your war is still with me, little brother," air sucked through Touya's teeth, "But it doesn't have to be."

Shoto shook his head. "Then you lied to me? You are the Summoner after all?"

"No," Touya groaned, "But I support his mission…"

"_I don't like this." _Eijiro bared his teeth.

Shoto felt his legs quake under him. "_Me either…"_

"You found me using a Honing Stone, I'm assuming," Touya moved in a slow pace, semi circling his brothers and moving away from the Dragon, "No guiltless man can be found with such a device."

Shoto gasped. "You were a decoy."

The grin was confirmation enough. Shoto threw a look to Nana, hoping she could hear what was being said and the blanche in her face said she did.

"How? That shouldn't be possible."

"It shouldn't be possible to combine Necromancy and Blood Magic and breathe life into a stillborn infant either, and yet…"

Chill seeped through Shoto's already dampened exterior to his very bones and he even felt Natsuo bristle behind him.

"I'm a failed Summoner," Touya's mouth twitched, palms opened, "I reached into the ether and it spat me back… Not without marring me for the attempt."

Blackened hands touched his similarly tainted neck and ran down to the dark of his clothes.

"Why?" Natsuo hissed, "Why would you even try such a horrible thing?"

"Why do you think?"

Touya stopped and drug his red coated eyes from Natsuo to Shoto, where they softened to something pained.

"You will never know what it is to be cursed, Natsuo," Touya took in every detail of Shoto's face, "What it is to be born damned… If the void is all that awaits us, then why must our time alive also be hell? We are either apostates, fearfully fleeing our Synod masters until they hunt us to death, or we are the equally imprisoned hunters. We don't even get to choose that piece of our miserable fates."

"There's a reason for that and you're living proof," Natsuo's tone started to match his impatient stance.

Touya snarled, but ignored him, focusing on Shoto. "Natsuo is too sullied by the words of his father to think for himself, but you…"

Once again Touya reached out and once again Shoto shirked back from it without even thinking. He expected a brash reaction, but the Mage only sighed and nodded.

"You may have been raised by the Synod, but you have already proven your readiness to defy them," Touya sounded hopeful, "Either you have accepted your fate for your sins and follow them despite it or you are trying to leave them and Fallen Magic is your recourse."

Shoto wanted to shout that it was the former, dispel the second as being false, but the first wasn't completely the truth either. It held him in hesitance that caused Touya to rethink his argument.

"Or perhaps you're trying to prove something," a smile quirked the corner of his mouth.

Shoto's stomach dropped.

"It's nothing to be ashamed about, Shoto," Touya opened his arms, so welcoming and decrepit, "It's a family trait. Natsuo has to prove to father and to himself that he's better than I was, that he won't fail the Todoroki name like I did. Father must prove he's as capable as any other Lord, as capable as the King. I'm sure my little sister has her own demons. And I am determined to prove that I wasn't wrong in resurrecting you… That Mages deserve better than to be trodden under foot for something they have no power over! I aim to prove that the Synod is wrong, that every one of these infrastructures is corrupt! What moral system strips an infant from its mother's arms? What good organization removes your family name from you and takes your birthright?"

Natsuo scoffed loudly. Touya continued, ignoring him.

"Think of what the Synod has deprived you of! Think of what you've endured at their hands! Wouldn't you have preferred to feel the love of a mother, rather than be raised by the cold walls of Gracestone?"

While the very thought choked Shoto, he could feel the Dragon at his back shift backwards and a wordless feeling slip through the link of their minds.

Mournfulness. Empathetic sadness.

"All of that could change today," Touya kept pushing, kept driving his point further and further into Shoto's every insecurity, "Today you have at least one brother. You have a family who wants you. I am that family. Had I known you were alive I would have emancipated you from that hell long ago! But all of that is behind us and I want you at my side from here out, I want you with us when we reshape this misshapen world… Shoto, think about what I'm asking of you, don't just spit back Synod drabble."

In all the time he'd spent as the least experienced at the fronts, the most in need of formation among other Mages, he had never felt like a child than in this moment. He wanted to look to a parental figure to tell him what to do, what to think, but the closest he had was Nana and she seemed as stricken as he did and was too far out of reach to hide behind.

He didn't want to be asked to consider these things, because he knew he wasn't certain of much anymore, but Touya seemed so equally right and wrong at once. The plea in the blue eyes was so genuine and intense, it was truly begging Shoto to choose him. It didn't matter if Touya was somehow wrong about everything, he believed wholeheartedly that Shoto was his brother and that fact seemed to mean more than any other consequence.

"You want me to trust you over the people I have trusted with my entire existence since I was born? If… if it's true, if-if I'm, I don't even know what I would be, an undead, a living corpse, then the Synod had no reason to allow me to live. They are my saviors whereas this family you speak of is nothing I've ever known and nothing to me."

The distance left between the two Mages was shrinking more and more and Shoto kept a constantly darting look back to Eijiro to simply comfort himself that perhaps Touya would rethink getting too close if it meant getting within biting distance of a Dragon.

"Choosing not to kill a living thing is not saving it! You are alive, you are not some abomination, you are not one of the shambling corpses that I have conjured! Those are bodies of dead men, inhabited by spirits of another realm. Their souls are gone. Your soul is your own and your life is the life you were born with. You merely drifted in the ether a time before you were reclaimed to this life. Anyone who would call you less than human is not human themselves! The Synod would call it mercy to let you live, like it would be called mercy not to murder this dragon for it merely existing! You know it's a living creature with a conscience, but it's closeness to the ether tells mankind it's a monster. That is how they think of you. But I don't! They have harmed you, but I wish to liberate you, validate you, show you your true potential. Trust me. That scar on your face was not from me, not from your family; trust the one who gave you back life, not those that sent you into harm's way."

The sentiment of amazement echoed between Mage and Dragon, both taken aback. It all bounced like living chaos in Shoto's mind, but the drag on his heart was real. He didn't know Touya, he didn't remember him as Touya remembered Shoto and yet what he said stabbed a part of his heart with a sensation he was unfamiliar with. This person he didn't know was affirming his value, not just as a powerful Mage, but as a person. It was something he always wanted to feel from his caretakers in the Synod, from the Masters in the High Circle.

"Don't listen to this madness," Natsuo broke the spell with the venom in his voice, "He points to your scarred face and says to blame the Synod, while he also points to another scar and takes pride that he created it. That nasty gash happened at the front, didn't it?"

Shoto remained staring at Touya but nodded.

"Then he did put that mark on you all the same. If he is in league with the Summoner, this whole war in some part is his responsibility. He and the Summoner much each take blame for every scar, every wound, every one of the thousands of deaths. He is no savior to your sorry lot in life, he is the curse to everyone else's. Just look around you; this is the future for all of Gaetha, Mages and the untouched alike!"

The world around him went out and then back into focus briefly and all of the devastation they had so easily stepped over while Touya had filled their ears with rhetoric became clear again. The dead soldiers by their mangled horses, the score of Mages now drained husks, already turning to rot, all not a hundred yards from the ongoing onslaught of the Tarlson and King's armies struggling for victory against certain evil.

Touya's inherent appeal slipped from Shoto as easily as an eel through slicked fingers and the intense anger he'd felt over what the Fallen Mage had tried to do usurped the purring warmth of recognition he'd derived from Touya's heartfelt words; the appeal of the Fallen Mages attention on him was tainted easily by the reality strewn about their feet.

"Shoto," the red in Touya's eyes flared like flames, "Give me a chance, I know I can make you understand."

"I think you've said enough," Natsuo spun his sword in hand and adjusted the grip on his shield.

Touya huffed, unimpressed, disdainful towards his brother. "You are already defeated, what fight do you expect to have with me? Even your dragon is weakened, his wounds are barely healed and the power Shoto has taken from this Mage is nothing compared to what I have consumed. Destroying you will be a small effort if you force me to do so. You cannot hope to kill me."

"We don't have to kill you."

Natsuo was pinned with a sea of curious eyes and a skeptic frown from Touya.

"We only have to delay you a bit longer."

The thrum of the ether still pulsing in Shoto's ears made everything around him register a bit slower than to the others and the turn of their eyes Southward was his only clue that something was happening. First, he saw Touya's expression fall and then, finally, he heard the echo of a horn and the rumble of galloping feet. The shuddering ground told how close they were and the blurred shadows on the horizon moved into distinct shadows.

"Bastard!" Touya's hand whipped and a tendril cut across Natsuo's quickly raised shield, "You were stalling?"

Natsuo straightened confidently from his defense, a stark lack of anything in his face, "I'm glad it was you here of all people. You've always been easy to distract with a good argument."

Eijiro tensed and began to growl at the Fallen Mage growing steadily more enraged. "_I don't think I like your brothers, Shoto."_

Shoto cringed at the words in his head and prepared for the situation they had all been delaying to come crashing down in a hell fury.

Red wrapped up around Touya's arms, gripped into him and flooded out of his palms as pure light twisted into gruesome glyphs. Shoto reached within himself to pull up the little that remained of his own power, praying it would be enough to keep them all alive a few moments longer.

"Death is too good for you!" Touya screamed at Natsuo.

"The First Cohort will not be so unprepared as these," Natsuo completely ignored his anger, "Headmaster Keigo will not be so easily defeated as these when there's an entire well trained Cohort at his back. Don't begin to think I fear you or your displays of power."

Touya looked back and forth between the three that stood against him and the approaching army.

His confidence faltered.

The red in his hands flickered and then suddenly it disappeared.

It was a single moment of calm and quiet, followed by the rock and crack of the earth around them.

No enchantment could withstand the pure force of the rippling magic bursting around him and Natsuo and Shoto collapsed. The dragon's claws dug into the ground, but even he was drug backwards despite forcing down his wings to not catch wind.

Shoto blinked through dirt and wiped away his face to see Touya, unshifted and panting. His teeth were grit in the bitterness of perceived betrayal towards the still oncoming reinforcements.

"I still have faith in you, Shoto," he said, taking a step back, "Think about what I've said. Find me if you change your mind… There will always be a place for you with me. There won't be with them. You'll see."

Gasping back his lost breath, Shoto choked on a response that never broke his throat.

Darkness like no other swallowed everything around them and Shoto suddenly understood how Eijiro would say the air could taste like the Ether. The density, like a fog, was tangible to every sense, but it lasted only a moment.

It fell away and swept into the night as Shoto leapt back to his feet.

But Touya was already gone.

The weight of the ether went with him, remaining only as a flicker on the wind, a light pulse from what remained of the enemy army, falling swiftly to ruin, and a hollow echo from the gruesome mess left of Tarlson's Second Cohort.

The Tarlson reinforcements were nearly upon them, but they would find very little left for them to attack. The clamor of their hooves was loud, but Shoto noted the silence from Izuku, his pained groans having accompanied the surroundings from the moment Shoto had bled him. But hands from two mages were over him, glowing with white light, soothing and healing the damage they had done to him.

Natsuo arose as the army came upon them and suddenly Ochako's shout snapped Shoto back to a reality he'd forgotten.

"Red, get out of here!"

It was easy to forget in the heat of this mess that a Dragon was a kill on sight enemy to the common man and, while the approaching forces were a relief to them, they were an immediate danger to Eijiro.

"_But I can't leave you all here…"_

"_Go, we'll be fine!"_ Shoto mentally screamed.

A displeased growl sent a tremor down Shoto's spine and then the Dragon was leaping into the air with a gusting force that made both standing men stumble.

"_I'm not going far,"_ Eijiro insisted, "_I won't leave Ochako."_

Everyone tensed as a battalion of horsemen split around them in a full-on charge to the enemy forces at their backs.

Through the middle of the focused charge, one small group remained moving head long towards them as the bulk of the force rushed to finish the battle. The words of the Fallen Mage struck Shoto to a stiffened, drawn stillness when he recognized the elaborate armor of the leader and the stern, scarred face beneath the battle helm.

The same sort of apprehension ebbed off of Natsuo, nothing like how he'd acted when seeing Lord Enji earlier in his Grand Hall. But whether either of them wanted to think on or believe Touya's words or not, it didn't lessen the poignancy of seeing the man here, the man the Mage had said to be all of their father; the focus of Touya's deepest hatred.

Stone cold blue eyes, the same shade of Touya's stared down Natsuo and Shoto as his small party came to a halt in front of them and the rest of the reinforcements galloped on.

Natsuo darted glances at Shoto uncertainly and the Mage hid his hands behind him, praying that Natsuo would not speak on what he had seen, on the magic he had likely witnessed Shoto using…on the things Touya had told them.

"Lord Commander," Lord Enji barked in urgency and Natsuo straightened like a soldier to his superior.

"My Lord, we are-"

"Natsuo."

The Lord's son flinched at hearing his name on his father's lips. Shoto startled too, the Lord's next works breaking any delusion that his attention was on either of them at a time like this.

"Natsuo, where is the king?"


	19. Long Live the Queen

The wet of the mud seeped through Katsuki's pants, drenching his knees. A shiver went up his spine but it wasn't from the cold and damp.

The Tarlson reinforcements and the men who had ridden in their initial attack shouted of victory, the last dying cries of the demons echoing their triumph. But it was just noise in his ears, just a false and otherworldly sound.

In the glow of firelight the battlefield was a grotesque tapestry. The remains of undead laid among the disintegrating forms of demons, losing their physical stability in this realm they had right to enter. Those that had lost life valiantly in the fight against them were mostly from the King's Army and the gold of their armor flecked the bloody, mud coated land like gems.

Death reeked around him and he curled his lip on the familiar, rank smell.

But the shouts of victory, the mounds of dead, the stench of a corrupted slaughterhouse, and even the sharp sting of Northern winds were not powerful enough to pierce the veil of Katsuki's mind.

His hand shook as he touched the pale head, as his fingers slid down, smearing the blood and muck over the once proud face to shut the bright blue of his eyes away from the darkness of the world.

"They're coming," Mina said softly overhead.

Katsuki kept his head low a moment longer and then pushed back to his feet, taking his sword up again. He held it at the ready as they looked to the oncoming Tarlson Lord and his entourage.

"Whatever happens, we can't stay in Tarlson," he said, forming up with the elves, "Lord Enji can't be trusted. Especially not now."

In her ongoing youth Momo had witnessed a few skirmishes, tournaments, and small military operations that could hardly have been considered even bloody. The protective nature of her family would never have allowed her near anything truly violent. They never would have let her near a place such as this, an aftermath so gruesome, a battlefield so devastated.

It was relieving to have arrived after the battle was over, but it did not diminish the poignancy and the clear image of what had happened.

She kept her cloak close around her, hood guarding her ears, but she still shivered. The cold was not as harsh as she was used to in the Capitol, but there was an unnatural chill in the air that could have cut through stone.

Tenya's eyes were watchful around them as they guided their horses slowly into the bloody mess of bodies and disintegrating demons, but they were also watching her. She felt them on her, cautious, gauging her tolerance for this horror.

"I've never…" She had to swallow and regather her wits as she watched the wretched face of a minor demon crumble into dust before her, "I've never really seen a demon firsthand… Is this really what they're like?"

"No," Tenya said, "They're far worse."

The firelit glow only revealed bits of battlefield at a time in the deep darkness of the night, but with each step the morning sun was beginning to cast a haunting pale hue. The further they strayed into the horrible scene the more revealed itself under torchlight and the slowly breaking dawn. First the still standing army, the living, scouring the land for their fallen brethren, laying out an immense and daunting line of golden armored soldiers along the front of the Outpost's fallen wall. Her father's men. Second, was the heart dropping sight of what appeared to be a titan, turning to ash. And then another. And another. Even the brave soldiers avoided going near them unless they had to.

"Major Demons," Tenya explained, "So many of them… How did they-?"

He shook his head, not wanting to think about his own question and instead pointed out across the field to a place near the Pass where tall flags stood amongst a dark cluster of men and horses.

"That's Lord Enji's sigil."

Momo could only nod, knowing it meant that it was where they needed to go and gathered her already shaken courage by it's frayed edges to once again face those that had refused to listen so many times before. But this time she would not back down under any recourse. This time she was willing to make threats to be heard. This time when she spoke her father would be forced to listen or lose his heir.

They spurred their horses forward and found a dense gathering of people, mostly Lord Enji's entourage, along with Commander Tensei and Lord Natsuo standing stiffly beside the young Synod Master she had seen with the Dawnfelden Captain at the Keep.

Commander Tensei noted their approach first and dropped from his horse to bar their way. He looked up at his younger brother with angered shock from his place on the ground and halted them before saying a word.

"Tenya, what are you doing here? Why have you brought her to this place?"

The appearance of the Commander and Princess had not been lost on the rest, save for perhaps the distant and distracted stare of the Synod Master that was only interrupted by Lord Natsuo leaving his side sharply to approach the newcomers. The intensity in his cold steel eyes shook down Momo's spine as something harsh and disconcerting and her breath left her in a shudder when she met them.

"This is no place for-!"

"Tensei!" Natsuo silenced him effortlessly.

Momo scowled cautiously as Natsuo bypassed the Commander and came directly to her side, reaching up a hand to help her down.

It didn't help to seek explanation from Tenya, he watched the Lord with equal caution and confusion.

Taking a leap of faith that the Lord Commander's gesture was that of good will, she took the hand and slid off of the horse. As soon as her feet were on the ground his hand separated from hers and wordlessly led her towards the gathering of soldiers. Tenya dismounted on his own, hesitating only a moment on the stern stare of his brother, but remaining close to his queen nonetheless, little deterred by the silent, familial communication they had in place.

The starched faces of the Tarlson soldiers were all on her, shaken, like they had seen something too horrible to imagine. Whatever had shaken them seemed to cripple their feet as well and the Lord Commander had to snap at them to clear a path for the Princess.

They created an opening with passing murmurs, but Natsuo stood to the side along with them, showing that he did not intend to continue on with her, leaving Tenya to accompany her alone through the parted audience.

The first person she was able to make out in the low torchlight and creeping dawn was Lord Enji, tall, proud, and staring down the Dawnfelden Captain, currently being flanked by a Solstice Elf and a Moondancer. They're swords were drawn and the curl of the Captain's lip told clearly enough that the two parties were not facing one another on good terms.

But when the Princess approached, the looks fell instantly, all aggression lost to surprise and concern.

"How did…?" Enji didn't even bother concluding the thought, but scowled back at the Captain. "It doesn't matter. You may not concede for a Lord that is not your own, Captain, but you will for royalty. You are still a soldier and thus predictable."

The Captain made a tight hissing sound, grinding his teeth in irritation at the dark look from Lord Enji. Momo rather expected it was going to insight a full out fight, but the Captain finally nodded agreement and jerked his head at the two elves.

"Step aside."

"You sure about that?" the male elf hesitated.

"Do it!" The Captain snapped and they did as they were told.

Enji was already removing himself from Momo's path and forlorn respect the Captain followed the elves out of her way as well.

Confused and tensely fearful, Momo watched them open up the dimly lit ground in front of her, watching their actions cautiously until what they had been disguising became clear.

Much like the rest of the battlefield there was brutality and blood all around along with pieces of gold armor littering the soiled earth. But here there was only one body left remaining, though ashes of fallen Demons wafted black dust into the air.

One set of armor. One discarded sword. One bloodstained crest, painting the golden face of The Mire Lion in red.

Her legs shook on every hurried step, hand clasped over mouth, the only sound she could make a choked sob as her knees hit the muddy earth at the side of her worst nightmare become actuality.

Momo blinked against a mist of tears, praying what she saw was a trick of flickering torchlight. But she touched his cold face, the unmoving smile lines, and found nothing there, no response, no light. Just vacancy.

"Father?" she whispered on some flightless hope struggling for altitude, "Father, please don't do this…"

There was no response. The terrors of the truth in front of her twisted up her gut, made her head feel fuzzy and heavy.

"I'm not ready. I can't..."

Her hoarse voice called softly to him as she pressed her delicate hand to his chest, pushing as if to wake him. But her fingers dipped into pooling blood and she jerked them away. She would have screamed if her voice would have allowed her. If she had any voice left to speak of.

At her back there was a chorus of movement, of armor shifting, of knees sinking onto wet ground. WIth wide eyed horror she turned back slowly to the gathered forces. The entire weight of the world crashed over her in a wave of revelation.

She was surrounded by kneeling, bowing men. The Captain, the soldiers, the Commanders, all took immediate action to pay respect, to acknowledge what Momo didn't dare consider. Every man except Enji whose gaze remained distant on the King's body.

Momo shook her head and panic rose in her chest, begging it all to stop before it even began, but she couldn't stop the chorus that rang through the audience, couldn't stop the solemn shout of, "Hail Queen Momo Yagi!" and the even darker response of, "Long live the Queen!"

No. Not that. Anything but that.

Tears continued to fog her eyes and stutter every breath with uncertainty and terror. She spun away from the many faces and fell against her father, as if she were still a child hiding from monsters beneath her bed and he was still able to comfort her fears. Her forehead pressed into his shoulder, forgetting the blood, forgetting everything but the stinging pangs in her heart and the horrible sound of the crowd echoing once more the cry of, "Long live the Queen".

Both Commander Tenya and the Dawnfelden Captain hurried back to their feet and hovered into Momo's space when Lord Enji boldly came to her side. They didn't directly intervene, perhaps not seeing it as an immediate threat, but hung cautiously close to their new Queen, watching Enji intently.

Momo froze when he dropped to one knee at her side. He wasn't looking at her though, instead his strong blue eyes held firm on the pale, cold form of their King, almost a disbelieving stare.

His fist pressed to his chest as his head fell downward.

"Rest well, old friend. I wish it had not ended this way, that we could have fought one last war together. I wish we could have fought once more as we always have. I never called you the Hero King as others did, but you were, old friend. You were a rival, never an enemy, Toshinori. Gaetha has lost a great king in losing you."

Tears danced on Momo's lashes and she buried her face further, scared to look up, frightened of the crown she had to take on. But more than that, beyond her ability to bear, was the crippling pain of knowing she had to live the rest of her life without him. Every complaint and argument they had over the last couple years felt so petty now. Nothing was worth knowing her last words to him had not simply been to tell him that she loved him.

But the first concern was lingering all around her in the bent knees and the solemnity in the air and reverberating from every tensed body awaiting their Queen to rise, awaiting someone to speak.

And however she wanted to ignore it, to focus the pains in her chest on the strangling loss, rather than the devastating responsibility that fell upon her, her moment of mourning was wrenched away unceremoniously when Enji stood to address the audience.

Momo stayed hunched over what remained of her father, gripping her gut and watching the peaceful, still expression of the king while Enji spoke and drove home her fears.

"The King is dead."

Momo cringed.

"In that vacancy young Momo is our new Queen," Enji continued, "Commander Tensei, have your men gather the King's remains and prepare them to be returned to Queen Nemuri. Natsuo, see that the Queen is returned safely to the Keep-"

"Just fucking try."

Momo hardly had the chance to startled before the chaotic clamor of armored men clattered in her ears. Natsuo hadn't even moved to respond to the Lord before the Dawnfelden Captain was already barring his way and eying both Todorokis with suspicion while Tenya moved in close to her.

"Momo," he said softly, dropping to a knee and putting a hand to her shoulder.

"Commander Tenya, you are dismissed of your duties," Enji's voice thundered again, "The Queen is no longer your responsibility to safeguard."

"Incorrect, My Lord," Tenya battled the harsh tone of his voice with the civility of his words, "I am sworn to the Royal Family. I will not be separated from the Queen unless she so wishes it."

"You are already facing court martial for disobeying my orders, Commander, you should not further test me." Enji looked to his son, "Natsuo!"

The younger Lord hesitated, staring narrowly at the Dawnfelden Captain.

"Stand down Captain, the battle is over," Natsuo said coldly, "This is unnecessary."

The two elves moved casually around Momo and her father's body, sword twisting in their hands, eyeing the Tarlson soldiers and forcing Enji to take a cautious step back at their quiet threat.

"I was in the Hall with everyone else, Lord Commander," the Captain hissed, "I won't entrust the future of the Kingdom with any of you. Even as far away as Dawnfell we know the saying..."

"Never trust a Todoroki," Momo whispered her mother's words, gripping her stomach.

Supporting herself by pushing against Tenya's shoulder, Momo stood, blinking around at their situation. The elves had made a perimeter around her and the body, while Enji created space between them and Natsuo locked glares with the Captain. The Tarlson soldiers seemed confused, scared, on edge and the Synod Masters in their midst looked about himself as he searching for an escape.

"Lord Enji," Momo struggled on the words, her voice not as controlled as she thought, but the conflict paused long enough for her to try again.

"Lord Enji, I wish to accompany my father home at once. I will not return to your Keep. I will not move from this place. You will bring a litter and an escort and I will see my father returned to the Capitol."

For so fragile a tone, it was incredibly powerful. Her voice was barely above a whisper, but there was such severity in each demand it seemed to take the Lord himself by surprise.

The Tarlson soldiers looked to Enji and the Lord lost his surprise to a frown.

"Queen or not, you are a child and you will return to the Keep if I demand it."

"Child?" The Captain scoffed and she felt his sharp blue eyes give her a once over, "You and I have both sent boys to their deaths younger than her."

Natsuo opened his arms almost diplomatically. "Enough of this, Captain, are we going to sully our victory with further, pointless bloodshed for your stubbornness? "

"Unlike you, I pride myself on understanding the chain of command. Doesn't take a fucking genius to know you aren't at the top of it. But she is."

Natsuo curled his lip, "And you, Tenya, you will throw away your years of service to my family for the batting lashes of a young woman?"

"If that young woman is the Queen of Gaetha, then yes," Tenya sounded shaky, "Her demands will be heard and she will return to the Capitol on her own terms."

"I cannot allow that."

Tenya and Momo both tensed as Enji lifted a hand and a group of soldiers moved forward, weapons at the ready directed at those that surrounded her.

"I respect your family, child, but I will not see my nation fall because we are left under the leadership of a young girl in the time of a Summoning. I cannot allow you to return and accept the crown, yet."

Momo's heart dropped.

"That's treason," the Captain said.

"You of all people should know that war does not always allow us the comfort of an easy decision, Captain," Enji looked Momo up and down, unimpressed, "We need strength right now. No army will follow a girl barely old enough to be wedded and the nation will not fall behind a Cantican Queen. Nor will they agree to look up to a foreign boy as regent."

"Then who do you expect they will follow?" Momo rubbed the back of her hand violently over her eyes, "You? You have no more claim to the throne than this Dawnfelden Captain or the elves with him!"

"I'm not trying to take your throne, your highness," Enji was unphased, "And on that you're wrong. Every small child knows that Gaetha was born by the joining of twenty-five kingdoms into one. Every Lord is as royal as the Yagis, only stripped of such a title as King or Queen. Every Lord in the land has a claim to the throne, but that is not the point, child. We fall in step behind great leaders, not family names."

The group around Momo tightened, both the Commander and Captain hanging close as the Elves circled cautiously. The more Enji spoke the more nervous everyone became and the more Momo was certain she wasn't going to be leaving peacefully.

"Perhaps you don't, My Lord, but the rest of the kingdom will," Commander Tenya argued, "You underestimate the power of the Yagi name."

Enji dipped his head solemnly at the form of King Toshinori.

"Your father earned every ounce of loyalty that he received. I would do no honor to his memory to allow his family to be made a fool of or his kingdom fall by allowing you to lead it. The kingdom needs strong leadership from a Gaethan."

Momo was stricken, words beyond the grasp of her gaping mouth. No sooner had she been given the daunting title of Queen as it was being threatened to be stolen from her. And from her mother too. How could Enji say that the nation wouldn't follow Queen Nemuri? Her clan was the strongest in Cantica and she had lived in Gaetha most of her life. She was as Gaethan as anyone here.

"You were right, Katsuki," the girl elf tsked, "This Lord fellow is skeevy."

"We definitely shouldn't let him be in charge," the male elf replied with a small smirk.

Tenya was visibly shaking. "Tensei, how can you listen to this and do nothing?"

The eldest Iida brother scowled at the younger and hissed through his teeth. "My oath is to my Lord as is yours! You are the one that is in the wrong. Step aside, Tenya. For the sake of what is left of your honor, do not forsake your loyalties."

"Didn't realize blatant mutiny was equivalent to loyalty, Commander," Captain Katsuki scoffed, "Get your head out of your ass."

Tenya tossed a glare at the Captain's interjection, but didn't argue what he'd said. He only stood taller and leaned closer to the person he had sworn to safeguard. "My loyalty is to Gaetha and it's true rulers."

"Your stance is meaningless," Enji frowned over their display, "You're outnumbered and can't hope to win in a fight with us. All you've done is seal you fate. The Queen will return to the Keep."

The Lord tossed a sharp glare to Natsuo. His son's face tightened with confusion and his eyes darted about unfocussed. The tiniest hope sparked up through Momo's chest; perhaps he saw the insanity of his father's decision and would challenge it. Perhaps he was more like Fuyumi than Enji…

"Do we have any real hope of solidifying a claim?" Natsuo cocked his head at his father.

"We will see to it."

Momo shrunk under the stare of the Lord and felt her lip tremble on her words. "How could you possibly hope to-"

"The same way every political problem is resolved," Enji hissed, "Arranged marriage."

The rising dawn forgot to cast warmth when Momo met the disinterested eyes of the Lord's son on her and grabbed onto Tenya's arm, supporting her legs collapsing beneath her.

Natsuo's only response to the sudden decision that Lord Enji had made was to tilt his head at Momo and say, "Fine."

"I won't allow that to happen," Commander Tenya fully drew his sword.

The elves smiled and lowered their stances, ready for the teased fight to start.

"It's not up to you," Enji waved his hand and his men moved at them.

Momo threw her arms over her head. Tenya put himself between her and the danger. The elves laughed in excitement.

But the battle never got the chance to begin.

Red light erupted. Living arms of magical light burst in front of them. The sword of the Tarlson soldiers ripped free from their hands and clattered together on the ground.

Enji and his men all fell fearfully back at the sudden attack and the Tarlson troops cleared frantically away from the source of Magic in their midst.

Momo dropped her arms and shook her head. It was the peculiar Synod Master that had been with the Dawnfelden Captain at the Grand Hall, standing tall and intense, shrouded in red light that poured strongly from his eyes. His before hidden hands were open and wide, a staff in one and inky, thick redness in the other. But both were stained black from fingertip to palm.

Natsuo stepped forward with the least fear and the most rage. "Shoto!" he barked, but the Mage didn't even look at him.

Momo and Tenya both moved backwards when the Mage approached them, but the elves and the Captain didn't even flinch, allowing the Mage to take a place at their side without question, despite the very apparent Fallen Magic ebbing off of him.

"Took you long enough," the Captain hissed at the Mage, "How long were you planning on just standing there?"

"I was securing backup. What, you didn't have it all handled on your own?" the Mage, Shoto, muttered back at him.

"Blood Magic?" the horror and disgust in Enji's voice drowned out the gasped wonder of his men, "This the sort of thing you, a proud Dawnfelden associate with? And yet you condemn me?"

The corner of the Captain's mouth twitched and instead of responding to the Lord's taunt he whispered to the Mage, shuffling back and forth as the Tarlson soldiers moved back in. "We need a plan to get out of here. Where's everyone else?"

"Izuku was injured," Shoto said through his teeth, "Nana and Ochako took him to the Outpost to meet up with Kyoka…"

Natsuo's sword spun in his hand, focusing now on the Mage rather than the Captain.

"And the Renegade's friend?"

"He's on his way."

"To where?" Katsuki glared, but the Mage's answer was drowned by Lord Enji's shouts.

"Queen Momo, you must see how foolish this is! I want only what is best for Gaetha. You cannot be considering putting your trust in a Commander who cannot stay loyal to his Lord, a Dawnfelden desserter, conniving elves, and a Blood Mage over a loyal Lord of your father? I have no desire to harm you and I can guarantee your safety. These people cannot."

Now that the Blood Mage had stepped into their midst, Momo was less confident in the people who were protecting her, save for Tenya. But the Captain had not once questioned her authority as Lord Enji had and without knowing her he was readily defending her title. Perhaps it hid some deeper plot, but in that case he would still be no worse an option than Enji. Was it worthwhile to risk an uncertain danger rather than willingly be locked away in the Tarlson Keep until she was of political use to Enji?

"My Queen?" Tenya requested her decision, anxiously rocking on his feet.

Momo looked behind her, to the one she always had gone to for guidance and her insides twisted like a vice to see the smile lines so stiff and his eyes shut with such permanence. She needed to hear his voice so badly, to hear it's wisdom and the way it turned so soft for her. She needed him to stand up from his place of encompassing death and take away this unbearable weight that had fallen so suddenly to her shoulders.

But the King didn't move, didn't stir. The only help he could offer now were the memories she had of his teachings, his direction in her upbringing, not lessons of battle or war, but of duty, sacrifice and responsibility to her Kingdom and people. To allow her seat to be usurped until this war was ended or perhaps even indefinitely was easy, too easy. Not to her noble pride, but the action itself would be simplistic. The deaths that would follow this war would not be hers to bear, the decision not hers to make, failures would be someone else's fault; there was undeniable bravery among the Todorokis for wanting to take that on. But that wasn't what her father would tell her to do and, as she pondered the pallor of his brow, she could say with complete certainty that if she gave over to her anguish and lack of confidence now she would fail Gaetha in the one thing she was born to do: lead.

"Tenya," she swallowed with resolve, "I'm not going back to the Keep. Do not allow Lord Enji to force my hand."

He nodded. "As you wish."

"I gave you a chance to end this peacefully," Enji scowled, "But you give me no other choice, your highness. And you, Captain... you and these others have condemned yourselves with this association to Blood Magic. You will face the courts of the Synod."

The still black and red glowing hands of the Blood Mage were shaking and he seemed to falter as their group continued to gradually back away. Momo had never seen a Blood Mage before, but she had never anticipated there would be such a nervousness about them. She expected those around him would be the ones to cower.

Natsuo seemed to be watching the Mage closer than the rest and scowled at the shaky lift of his staff in their direction. There was a starkly, pained harshness in his voice when he arched his arm to direct his blade back at Shoto. "Think better of this, Mage. The Fallen Mage's rhetoric will not spare you. I have no reason to defend your life and will show no mercy."

"You made a new enemy while I wasn't looking?" The Captain arched a quick look at Shoto who only scowled in response.

The Tarlson soldiers had moved into an almost full semicircle around them, trying to fully surround them before attacking. Every hackle was raised and every eye around her had found a complimentary one to exchange a glare with, Tenya to Tensei, Natsuo to Shoto, Captain Katsuki to Lord Enji, the elves to everyone else.

"What is your plan here, Captain?" Tenya frowned at their steadily worsening predicament.

"Good fucking question," Captain Katsuki ground his teeth at the smug cross of Lord Enji's arms.

"Just hold a moment longer," Shoto glanced up.

Rather than a moment, the Mage had hardly finished the sentence when suddenly a rush of air like an otherworldly force burst over them. In the glint of morning light it's source dove from the still overhanging clouds and shook the earth.

Massive red paws hit the ground at Momo's back and she shrieked, stumbling away from it as everyone else did. Shouts of shock and fear barraged a beast as large as a building, red as fresh blood, scaled like a reptile and winged like a bat.

The swords turned immediately to the creature and Tenya pulled Momo close.

They backed into the Captain and the Mage. They weren't running like many of the Tarlson men already were, but the only one who didn't seem shocked was Shoto.

"This was your fucking plan?" Captain Katsuki threw out a hand towards the towering animal.

"I said he was on his way," was Shoto's defense. He pushed past them to pointedly approach the Dragon, entirely fearless as Momo's legs quaked beneath her and what remained of the Tarlson soldiers scurried to a safe distance.

The Dragon tilted it's head at the Mage and then let out a roar that had almost everyone including Momo and those protecting her cowering. Everyone but the elves who only marveled and Natsuo who stood his ground with Tensei hesitant at his back, wide eyed at the beast. Enji hovered between running and fighting, sputtering pure confusion at the sudden appearance of a storybook monster dropping from the sky.

"How much can you carry?" Shoto shouted and after a moment the Dragon silently lowered himself as close to the ground as possible.

The Mage waved Momo and her protectors over in a hurry.

"He won't be able to take us far, but we can get clear of the battlefield."

"Have you lost your fucking mind, Mage?" Captain Katsuki gestured at the Dragon.

The two elves had no such arguments and were the first to dash excitedly up to the Dragon and climb up onto his back, scurrying down his spine to sit near his tale. The Dragon didn't react outside of growling towards Enji and his men.

It wasn't a perfect endorsement, though, and Momo and Tenya remained as hesitantly back with the Captain. There was no way the Mage was expecting them to board this thing, this monster. Imprisonment in the Keep was beginning to seem less horrible the longer she watched the shifting scales and stacks of lethal muscle.

"He's not a mindless animal," Shoto argued, looking past the three uncertain ones to widen his eyes at the Tarlson men starting to regain some of their senses, "It's Eijiro."

"The shapeshifter kid?" Captain Katsuki's face was an entire wall of unhappy emotions.

"I'll explain later."

Blood Magic swirled in Shoto's hand and cut downward, shooting out past them and crashing into Natsuo's hastily raised shield. Momo hadn't even noticed the Lord Commander's movement, nor had those beside her.

"There's no time, just get on if you want to get out of here alive!"

Tenya took Momo's arm and pulled her forward towards the Dragon as Captain Katsuki rushed ahead and climbed up the scales; questions of safety long gone. But Momo's feet planted and her heart sunk as she looked back to where the King had been left.

"What about my father?" she cried.

There was poignant pain in Tenya's eyes, but he shook his head and pulled her again. Whatever gears pushed her heart to beat jammed and in the sharp, grating pain of that feeling, her resistance fell. She allowed herself to be brought to the Dragon's side while Shoto lashed Magic out at Natsuo and Tensei, defending their escape. The Magic only seemed to be slowing them down, not stopping them, the wards across their armor and weapons safeguarding them from even Blood Magic.

Tenya grabbed her by the waist and lifted her towards Captain Katsuki's waiting hand. He effortlessly raised her up to the Dragon's back and then offered a hand to Tenya afterwards.

It was strange and terrible to be atop the back of the scaly monster as it shifted back up from the ground and those on top of him clung to the scales and to each other, praying just that they might not fall off.

"Tenya, don't do this!" Tensei's voice cracked over the movements of the Dragon.

Momo was clinging to Tenya in her rough straddle of the beast that was not built to be ridden in this way and felt him tense though his entire body. But he didn't respond to his brother, just scrambled to get a better hold of the scales in front of him while the Captain shouted at the Mage.

"Shoto, get your ass up here! Stop fucking around!"

Shoto looked back indignantly at the Captain, which was a long enough distraction for Natsuo to rush him and slam his shield into the Mage's face. Shoto fell back and the Dragon's head whipped around to the Mage's attackers.

Natsuo came to a full stop when faced with the wide open jaw of a Dragon snapping just in front of him and Tensei fell right to the ground, panting in terror. Momo shuddered at Natsuo's stillness, the way he simply stopped, but showed no tangible fear in his face.

He stared the dragon in its eye and after a moment, took a step back, opening his arms, holding aside sword and shield; a concession. Hot air huffed over Natsuo from the massive nostril of the Dragon and the frill of it's raised hackles lessened a bit as it's heavy paw settled gently over Shoto, who still struggled to get up from the ground, holding his bleeding nose.

Neither the Lord Commander or his Second moved to stop them as the Dragon wrapped his paw around Shoto, grabbing him like an otter might grab a stick. Shoto was not thrilled about this and he snagged onto the Dragon's ankle for dear life as the creature straightened and flared its wings.

Momo felt the tense of its muscles and she buried her face into Tenya's shoulder, everything down to her toes clenched.

"This will not be the last we see of each other," Natsuo warned.

Leaving them with a final threatening growl, the Dragon leapt into the air.

Whatever was in Momo's upper body felt like it was slammed down into her legs as force and wind plowed against them. Momo's eyes sealed as tightly as she could make them and used every power of will to keep the contents of her stomach from keeling out onto Tenya.

She couldn't bring herself to care about the man at her back, grabbing her shoulder to stabilize himself or the flippant way the elves were handling this experience or the lack of precaution they were taking. They held themselves from screaming like she had when they had launched up, but she could feel how anxious both the Captain and Commander were. And well they should have been; human beings were not meant to fly, they were not meant to be this high off the ground and Momo made this clear by screaming into Tenya's shoulder until she was hoarse.

Tenya was silent as the grave, his fear tearing his voice clean from him, but the Captain showed his own displeasure with the experience by cursing wildly, which only got harsher as a couple giddy laughs filtered from behind him, denoting the pure enjoyment and thrill of the two elves.

Momo couldn't say how long they spent in the air, a moment had been more than she could bear, but when she finally peaked an eye back open the crumpled remains of the Outpost was small behind them and rolling mountains were just ahead. Had she been in any state but that of fear, loss, and pain, she would have marveled at seeing the Grimheist Mountain Range from this height, in a way that none but the birds had ever seen it.

But all it told her now was that they were flying East and not in the direction of home.

And then the mountains started to get larger and the rush of the wind swept harsher as the Dragon tilted down and the ground began to speed towards them.

Momo's face hid itself again as the ride became uneven and rough, rocking the passengers back and forth as they were forced against each other in the sudden plummet.

"I'll hunt him through the ether if that fucking Mage gets us killed!" Captain Katsuki shouted, gripping at what scales he could get hold of.

"But what a way to die!" the male elf laughed and the girl elf responded with a very loud, "Woo hoo!"

The landing was about as fumbling and uncoordinated as Momo expected it to be. The Dragon made many a groaning, displeased sound as its paws touched ground in a semi-forested gorge between two croppings of the Grimheist Range. It was the only opening in sight big enough for a Dragon, but a couple trees became splinters anyway with the violent impact.

The force, crash, and bad footing of the beast finally dislodged the Captain from his seat with more wild cursing and Momo gripped tighter to not meet the same fate. Somehow, Tenya managed to hold fast and keep them in place atop the winged reptile.

The elves took a more graceful exit, leaping from the Dragon and catching themselves in a barrel roll to ease the landing. They had to immediately duck the deadly swipe of a tale, but still only found amusement in their near death experiences.

When the world finally stilled and she realized they had not died, Momo eased her vicious grip of Tenya slightly, only to find every muscle and bone in her body shaking.

"Get me off of this thing… Please!" Momo begged.

Still unable to find his voice, Tenya nodded emphatically and shifted to slide down the Dragon's side. He landed on wobbly feet, but immediately reached up to help her down despite it. Somehow he got her safely back to the comforting stability of the ground.

Certain she would simply fall and, possibly lose all of her senses and start kissing the very earth for the mere fact that it wasn't moving beneath her, Momo hung onto Commander Tenya's shoulder as he led her away from the Dragon.

A whimpering sound trembled from the Dragons mouth with a tight yelp just before it's leg collapsed underneath it. The beast was quick enough to release the Mage from it's paw before it could crush him, but it was close enough to make Momo's heart jump into her throat.

But despite it nearly accidentally killing him, Shoto scrambled back to his feet and rushed to the Dragon's side, still rubbing away at the blood that spread down his nose and mixed with the mud and grime of the battlefield they had left.

His fingers jittered and he spoke quickly under his breath like alarm was a language all its own.

In silent shock the five other passengers watched, unmoving from the places they had landed, as the Mage's hand lit with white magic over glistening red scales. Eyes blurred with tears and yet dry from the whip of wind, Momo choked on the horror that its scales seemed to be falling from it's flesh.

And then she rubbed her eyes and shook herself, finding her terror turning quickly to concern.

Those weren't its scales, but fresh streaming blood.

The species of the creature faded into the recesses of her mind at the sight of it's anguish and the pure desperation of the Mage struggling to impose healing on it. She detached from Tenya's side, coming within an arm's reach of the Dragon before he could even finish his warning shout.

"Your Highness, wait-!"

With legs trembling beneath her, she gaped at the head that would have dwarfed a horse, the protruding fangs that were as long as her legs, the iris of its eye that burst with the colors of blood and flames.

"I told you not to push yourself!" The Mage's voice was pained and frustrated as he sunk his glowing hand into a mess of blood and ripped scales below it's upper left flank.

The creature growled as the Magic touched him, tensing and groaning, but not snapping or kicking like most animals would. The growl was apparently threatening enough for Tenya, though, because she was suddenly being wrenched back behind him.

The scaled muscles rippled in pained movement as it whipped its head around to bare its teeth at the Commander's raised sword only to have it's leg slip, nearly crushing the hand of the Mage a second later. Shoto fell on his ass with shock and then threw judgmental eyes at the Commander and Queen.

"He's no threat to you, just stay back," Shoto demanded.

"You want me to trust the word of a Blood Mage that this beast of the ether is no threat? It's a damn Dragon, not a lost bear cub!"

The Mage didn't stop what he was doing, but his shoulders hiked up around his ears.

Without anyone registering her movements, the elf girl was suddenly beside them, slinking closer to the Dragon with a cocked head and black eyes wide in fascination.

"He saved your life, didn't he?" the elf was not too intrigued to glower at the Commander. "Humans." She muttered with a bitter curl of her lip. "You understand so little about magic and-"

"Mina!" Shoto snapped, "Now isn't the time. Please."

There were a hundred things Momo wanted to ask and there was so much she needed to quantify, but instead she just placed a hand on Tenya's arm to lower it.

"Will it be alright?" she asked.

A blue eye darted back at her, before the Mage shook his head, speaking with all the composure of a person on the brink of hysteria.

"I don't know. I've barely healed humans before, let alone a Dragon! He's not responding the same way to my spells and even Blood Magic won't help if I don't know what I'm doing! We need to get him back to Ochako."

The Dragon blinked at him and then snuffed intensely hot air in a wince of pain.

"I'm sorry," Shoto poured his power into the spell, "I should never have asked you to do this."

The Captain had made it back to his feet finally and placed himself near the Commander and Queen while the other elf joined Mina in invading the personal space of an injured beast big enough to swallow them in one go.

"Mage…?" The Captain's question was incomplete, but Shoto seemed to understand it.

"I'm doing what I can!" his voice cracked, "I didn't mean for any of this…"

Momo didn't know this man. She had seen him use Blood Magic and call upon a Dragon to save them all. That was it. The first fact alone should have left her beyond any faith in him, but she heard the regret, the fear of failure in his voice and it hurt how well she had come to know that feeling these last few days.

She could hear her own countless regrets as he lamented putting the animal in this situation. And what was worse, was that this creature's downfall was more her fault than the Mage's. It was the same as Genry's life, Toru's life, the lives of the King's entourage… her own father's life, all lost in defense of her.

It made her want to scream, but she silently cried instead as she had done since she had seen him. The memory of the King's face, still and drawn, resting in a pool of his own blood was unshakeable still and grew larger in her mind with every passing moment.

"Shoto, it's not your fault," the male elf said softly as the Dragon nudged his lifted hand, experimentally.

The Mage was quiet for a moment, but his head turned and twisted, face contorting in expressions that seemed to have no cause until finally he leapt to his feet and pulled the elf away from the Dragon.

"What's going on?" he protested.

"Just stay back, it's the only thing we can think to do." Shoto ordered and started to undo the outer layer of his robes.

The Dragon's eyes sealed shut as it's long neck craned and his wings folded close to his body. Sounds that grated over Momo's skin fell from its maw as its claws dug into the earth and light started to gleam dully under it's scales.

"What are you doing to it?" Captain Katsuki instinctively reached for his sword.

"I'm not doing anything."

The image that followed was so strange and unexpected and confusingly grotesque Momo was certain she would be haunted by it for the rest of her life.

Though shrouded by the hue of magic, the metamorphosis was still graphic and much like watching the pure distortion of nature itself. The Dragon's scales seemed to fold away and it's entire mass compressed, shrunk, slimming down until it finally took shape into what Momo could only assume was a human being. It had the right figure and appendages, a stark lack of wings, and the young, attractive face of a human boy no older than herself.

Where once a Dragon had lain a person had taken its place, naked as day and resting in a fetal position with his shoulder in the pool of blood that had formed beneath the Dragon. It was no longer the roaring groans of a Dragon that met their ears, but the sharp cries of a human boy in pain.

Even the shameful blush she felt at his stark nudity was not enough to get her to look away, so stricken and truly horrified at what she had just witnessed. And luckily she was not alone in that. The Captain and Tenya both gaped looks of confused disgust at him too, but Shoto didn't hesitate in the slightest. He fell to his knees on blood soaked dirt and the outer robes he had removed were draped around the boy's shoulders, it's edges already soaking up the blood. If Shoto cared about his robes being stained he didn't show it. He just held his hand, no longer lit with magic but hovering in concern, inches away from the boy as he watched every motion with static anxiety.

"Shit, you were telling the truth," the Captain gaped.

"What just…?" Tenya fumbled with words to even ask what he had just seen and Momo couldn't claim to be much better.

The elves looked to each other like they had just come upon a world shaking revelation.

"So that's why-"

"The staff. Of course. It all makes sense. He said he wasn't human!"

Shoto ignored it all, focussed only on the boy. "Eijiro, are you alright?"

The young man shifted and winced, but lifted his head a little to give him a smile that was far closer to a grimace.

"Not dead… I don't think."

"Is…?"

"I think so. I still feel it; there's definitely still something wrong inside me, but I should at least last longer in a different form."

"He really was a shapeshifter?" Captain Katsuki spoke like his entire world had restructured in a moment, "You weren't just fucking with the Tarls?"

"The only real lie was saying he was human."

"Son of a bitch…" The Captain sounded almost impressed.

Shoto didn't even seem to hear it, locked onto Eijiro. "You're sure about this?"

Gradually, the boy lifted himself up to a seat and shifted the robes better around himself while still holding tight arms around his torso. He shrugged in response to Shoto's question, uncertainty twisting his brow.

"No, but I don't know what else to do. I've done this one time before and it seemed like it helped me from losing to my injuries until we could make it to Blackmoss… Maybe it'll work again…"

The Mage was far from comforted. He cursed under his breath.

Momo moved a bit closer to the boy, head spinning and heart pounding.

"You were the Dragon?" she asked.

There was no other explanation for how this boy had appeared here and the Dragon vanished, but she needed to hear it confirmed from the mouth of the subject at hand. At a glance, Eijiro seemed to be human outside of the slightly odd shape of his pupils and the jagged nature of his teeth, sharp like the Dragon's had been, but it was nearly impossible to look at him and believe he had been a Dragon moments before.

He turned up a pained smile to her and nodded. "Yes, ma'am."

"It's 'your highness' not 'ma'am'," Shoto corrected in a distracted whisper.

The boy grit his teeth, embarrassed and fumbled to correct himself, "I'm sorry, ma'am- uh, your highness. I mean -ah!"

Eijiro cried sharply and started panting, gripping his gut. Momo's heart skipped a beat and she slapped her hands over her mouth to muffle her frightened gasp.

"Don't move around so much," Shoto demanded and pushed his arms away.

"I'm so sorry…" Momo choked, "This is all my fault."

Eijiro resisted Shoto but with a few more hard shoves the boy finally kept his arms away as Shoto peeled back the robes carefully from his torso. He touched the blood covered skin of Eijiro's sternum and Momo wrenched her eyes away, red in the face.

"You don't need to apologize," The boy panted through the pain that seemed sharper with every exploratory touch of the Mage's hand, "Ochako told me to stay in Landsleave… And I knew flying all of you out of there might reopen my wounds…" He laughed and it turned into a sob, "She's going to kill me, isn't she?"

Momo's chest panged and she opened her mouth to offer some comfort, but she was unable to get a word in edgewise from the next few minutes with the rapid conversation that overtook the five that knew each other already.

Shoto winced at Eijiro's words, "The blame is mine, you won't be taking it. All of this… Damn it. All for nothing-" The intense and angered turn of the Mage's face fell to confused wonder. "There's no external injuries. How?"

Eijiro shook his head and whined, beating away Shoto's hand again to grip his gut. "I don't know how it works, I just know how to do it."

"Magic requires fundamental understanding of the physical action, Eijiro, that's not possible..."

"I'm a Dragon, Mage," Eijiro clamped his sharp teeth, "Magic doesn't work the same for me as for you."

"That's amazing," the male elf tapped his lip.

"The line between ether and the world is slimmer for his species," Mina beamed at the Dragon, "They don't need books and spells to do magic. It's like how an infant can cast a spell before understanding its own fingers. I wish the Chieftains could talk to you. So few people have ever spoken to Dragons. There's so much we could learn."

"He won't be speaking to anyone if we don't get him help soon," the Captain stomped forward, venomously glaring down at the Mage and Dragon.

Shoto blinked a scowl back at him. "You aren't going to complain about us trying to keep a Dragon alive?"

"I'd rather have a Dragon on our side against the Archdemon than dead in this big fucking ditch. Get him on his feet so that Renegade Healer can fix him and we can get back to the mission. Where are chubby-cheeks and Nana anyway?"

"Her name is Ochako," Eijiro glared.

The Captain didn't give an inkling that he cared. His arms stayed crossed at the boy until his pursed expression fell away to answer the question.

"Izuku was hurt. They were headed back to the Outpost, but that's the last I saw of them."

"Then we either have to head back to the Outpost or we need another healer."

"There's no other healer we can go to." Shoto snipped, "He's a Dragon. A Synod Healer would never-"

"Of course, and once again the Synod fucks us over with it's daily dose of oppression. So, we get a healer that isn't Synod."

"Where? How? Renegade Healers don't advertise themselves, Katsuki!"

"What, the Synod is the only one allowed to have Healers?"

"Everything isn't always the Synod's fault. We have rules for reasons!"

"Lot of fucking good that's doing us now. For all their fucking dictates, we wouldn't even be in this damn situation if your people would just do their fucking jobs. It's no wonder you're running from them."

"I'm not running from anything!"

Shoto spun on Katsuki. The blood around Eijiro ripped from the ground and burst across Shoto's open palms.

Momo readily fell behind the protective arm of Tenya and shrieked lightly as red erupted from Shoto's eyes.

Eijiro and the elves were simply stalled in shock at the Captain standing his ground in the face of the most dangerous power known to man pulled so suddenly into the Mage's grip.

"Really?" Katsuki looked Shoto up and down, "Look at yourself! You run to Blood Magic pretty readily for someone still committed to Synod ideals."

The red glow intensified and the Captain's certainty faltered. Magic crackled like maroon lightning and escaped his skin in small bursts that seemed to shock Shoto as much as those around him.

"Shoto?" Eijiro gaped and the Mage threw about a look of confusion.

The Captain backed away and Tenya made a shield of himself in front of Momo.

Light flashed before their eyes, red, vibrant, blinding and it snapped in their ears like thunder. But when Momo looked around Tenya's shoulder the only destruction she saw was to the ground in front of Shoto's feet and the living, inky black of corruption that stretched past his fingers in choppy streaks down his hands.

Katsuki looked at him with angered confusion and Shoto stared at his hands in shock as the red disappeared from his eyes. He shuddered, mouth flapping open at the many eyes on him.

"I didn't- I wasn't trying to…"

"What happened?" The male elf asked.

"That was different… I-" Shoto looked to Eijiro and then whispered darkly, "Dragon's Blood…"

"What about it?" Eijiro blinked nervously as the elves started to whisper excitedly to one another.

Tenya breathed out heavily, wide eyed on the Mage. "It's as dangerous as they say."

Shoto stumbled and shook himself, "I wasn't trying to use it. I didn't realize what I was doing and then I couldn't control it."

"Fucking shit, Mage," Katsuki's curt words cut, "You could have killed all of us! What the hell is wrong with you?"

"I said already that I wasn't trying to do anything."

"That's not comforting," Momo mumbled softly to Tenya, but the Mage and Captain looked at her as though they'd heard.

The Captain was already livid enough to breeze past it, though.

"Fuck, it's always the same with you Mages," he grimaced, "Synod, Renegade, Fallen… you're all cursed and pretending like you've found the path to break it, but all you do is seek out more power and fucking destroy everything around you in the process. There's nothing so narcissistic in this world as a fucking Mage and it's no fucking wonder we have a Summoning per generation with how many of you jump so easily to the worst Magics!"

"You're wrong! That's not-"

"Your powers come from evil itself and you try to convince yourselves that using that evil for good will bring about some sort of salvation, but the ether claimed your soul the moment you were conceived. All of you belong to the ether and all of you will turn that power to evil if given a chance because that's what you are! You're no different than the Demons!"

Shoto's face fell hard. Not angered or scared like it had been, but devastated.

In light of his intense pain, Eijiro could only move slowly and painfully, but he pushed himself to his feet despite it, brow twisted at the Captain.

"It's not like that at all," Eijiro turned anxious eyes to Katsuki, "That's nothing like what Mages are…" He stopped to grip his stomach and whine lightly on the pain.

Shoto reached out towards him, but the dragon shook his head and wordlessly assured him that he would be alright.

"Really, Dragon, what the fuck are they then?" Katsuki's fists squeezed at his sides.

"I don't understand elves or humans as well as I should for being raised among you," Eijiro looked confidently to the Captain while his words were cut up, breathy and tight, "But I understand Mages well enough. They're souls are like mine. The ether doesn't own them, it just connects through them. Being in touch with the ether doesn't make them evil and using the power it gives isn't wrong. You are just as capable of being good or bad as they are. People like you treated me like an animal, Captain, they tried to mutilate and starve me, but a Renegade Mage gave me a life and a home. One Synod Mage looked at me for a moment and decided he wanted to mount my head on a wall and the other Synod Mage put himself in harm's way for me. And Shoto… his magic isn't his fault. He just… He-Ah unh!"

The excitement and determination caught up to him and Eijiro's legs gave out. He dropped to his knees, one hand hitting the dirt while the other still clutched his stomach. Blood spattered from his lips and he cried on the ache of the coughing fit he was thrown into.

Momo ran from Tenya's protection and crouched beside Eijiro as Shoto darted from his conflict to do the same. It seemed their similar guilt was not so easily dissuaded by Eijiro's assurance that it was his own fault that he was in this position. It did not comfort her or Tenya that she was so near the person that had lost rationality and turned Blood Magic on his friend a moment ago, but she couldn't stand to watch from a distance as the person who had saved her keeled over in agony and Tenya simply had to accept that he couldn't stop her.

"Be still, you don't have to defend me to Katsuki," Shoto ordered him.

Eijiro shook his head and fought to catch his breath. "You can't be fighting right now. There's no time. Izuku told me what you plan to do and we all need each other if we're going to defeat the Archdemon and find the real Summoner. We can't fight about our differences."

"The 'real Summoner'?" Katsuki frowned.

"The man we tracked down was a decoy and he still got away," Shoto brushed it aside quickly to the Captain's obvious displeasure and returned his focus to Eijiro, "What do you mean, 'we'?"

"I want to help," Eijiro smiled as they leaned him back on his haunches, "If I live that is. I want to prove something too, Shoto… Maybe we're also brothers." He laughed and Shoto's expression soured.

"Not to completely ignore the thousands of concerning things I've just heard, but the squabbles of Dragons and Blood Mages are irrelevant to me when our Queen needs to be taken to safety," Tenya interjected, "The boy, Dragon...whatever he is, needs a Healer, yes, but the King is dead and the new Queen is in danger… That is far more important than this needless arguing."

Katsuki sucked his teeth and cursed a few times before obtaining whatever his version of composure was. "Not important enough, though."

"Excuse me?" Commander Tenya startled.

"The damn kid is annoyingly right," Katsuki hissed, "We don't have time for this shit. We need to regroup and keep the Dragon alive so we can stop the Summoning. Whoever rules Gaetha next isn't half as important."

Momo's heart dropped. "But...you were the one that defended me from Lord Enji…"

"I stand by that and I'd do it again, but I don't have the time to help you get back to the Capitol before the barrier falls and the title of Queen becomes some etched markings on the rubble that'll be left of your Kingdom."

"It _does_ matter because the ruler leads the armies that fight the very threat you claim to defend against!" Tenya countered.

"Not this time," Katuski grumbled.

"What does that mean?"

"It means politics can go fuck itself until the Archdemon is dead."

"Katsuki!" Shoto grit his teeth and fisted his hands on his thighs.

Momo's head spun with their repetitive return to arguing and how slowly her mind was keeping up with it all. She'd barely even come to terms with the reality of her father's death and she couldn't possibly hope to keep up with all the information being thrown around her.

Thankfully, and unexpectedly, the blond elf was the one to step forward and put the rising tensions to some sort of ease.

"How the hell do you humans get anything done?" He shook his head with a sigh, "I'll do this quickly so we can just move on before Eijiro dies of blood loss."

The elf passed looks between the Queen and Commander and he stopped Momo's heart in one sentence. "The fronts have already fallen."

"Your armies failed. The Synod failed to provide the proper magical forces and they haven't sent anyone in search of the Summoner. Mages can't banish Demons like they used to and we don't really know why, but they can be killed by Blood Magic. Nana almost killed the Archdemon with Blood Magic, but the anchor of the Summoner kept it alive. Our mission is to kill the Summoner and break the Archdemon's tether to our world so that Nana can kill it for real this time. But we only have a few weeks at most before the barrier she put up falls and the Archdemon destroys the world with vaguely any resistance from the big failure that is the Synod."

Momo couldn't even formulate a singular question to follow that with, but he was already continuing before she had a chance.

"We thought we had tracked the Summoner here, but Shoto seems to think we had the wrong man. So we still have to find the real person and get across the country to stop the Archdemon before the barrier falls."

"Oh." Was all Momo managed to say.

"That's…" Tenya couldn't get much past that either.

"Yeah," Katsuki pinched his nose, "Welcome to our fucking reality."

"Eijiro?"

The boy slumped and together Momo and Shoto barely caught him. His head lolled forward.

"What do we do?" Momo gasped, feeling as though the question was directed to everything that had happened today.

Mina crouched in front of Eijiro and glared at Shoto.

"If the two of you had stopped yelling for three seconds I would have already told you. We can find you a Healer. What are connections for after all? We just need to get him to Talistone."

"Why didn't you mention that sooner?" Katsuki barked and received a bitter look in response.

He crossed his arms and frowned at the ground, petulant, but understanding his answer had already been given.

"Denki," she addressed the blond elf, "You find Nana and Kyoka and I'll lead them to Talistone. Meet us at Chiyo's."

"Got it," he nodded.

"Wait, what-?"

The Commander didn't have a chance; the elf was already gone, lost to the light forest and rocks and shadows.

"Get him on his feet," Mina stood, "You may want to let your knight do that Miss Queen."

Momo shifted aside for Tenya to take her place and help Shoto lift the limp form of the boy from the ground. Seeing him from this angle she shuddered; he looked already dead.

Mina saw that too, but reacted quite differently. Her hand swung and there was an audible snap when she slapped him across the face. It startled him awake and simply startled everyone around him.

"Ow-! why?"

She ignored the complaint, especially since he was distracted by his pains once again and tossed her next order to Shoto. "Keep him awake."

Shoto gave her a short nod.

"You," she pointed at Momo, "Stay close to me. Katsuki, watch our rear."

"Since when do you give the orders?" the Captain was exasperated.

"Since I know where I'm going and you don't," Mina returned and grabbed Momo by the arm, "Form up and follow me. You can fight over who's going to save the world when the little Dragon isn't about to die."


	20. Sacrificed Priorities

"This feels terribly familiar."

Izuku's uninjured arm covered his face as completely as he could manage and tried to be as still as possible against the inspecting touches or rough hands against the side of his stomach and the newly sealed gash running up his arm. He was grateful, without doubt, that Ochako and Nana had rushed so quickly to help him, that they had used the sparing remains of their magic to seal the fractured pieces of his ribs back together and stop the bleeding from killing him. But his last adventure in Ochako's care had already caused more than enough unintended exposure in front of her and it was unhelpful that there was a second pair of eyes on him now.

"I'm so sorry, Apprentice," Ochako whispered, "If it's worth anything, I thought you acted very bravely…"

Izuku breathed deep and hissed in the still tender feeling in his flesh. He clenched up more and shook his head when he felt the two women tense over him, reassuring them they hadn't caused it.

"I'm fine… Just can't breathe too deeply."

"That's not, 'fine', young Mage," Nana set his arm down next to him and patted his shoulder, "I wish I could do more, but I've spent too much of our journey so far as a burden to my companions and I can't give anymore energy to healing you else I trade places with you."

Izuku dropped his arm from his face and blinked up at her serious frown through the dim shadows cast by the bit of sunlight streaming through the Outpost's rubble. The area was mostly closed off save for a bit of crumbled wall where a door had once been. Kyouka was watching outside and keeping the soldiers away, but it didn't completely abate their nervous looks to the opening as the two used their Magic, expecting constantly that someone would slip past her and catch a Renegade Mage casting spells over a Synod Mage.

"You've done more than enough, I already owe you my life," Izuku smiled at Nana and it softened her face in an instant, "Thank you."

She returned it with a head tilt. "You are a lot like Shoto said. Not so much like the other Synod Mages."

"Shoto talked about me?" The very idea seemed like a breach of reality.

"Ridiculous, right?" Nana chuckled, "I can never quite tell if he's fond of you or hates you, but I see he respects you. Which I suppose is not dissimilar to how he treats the Captain… or anyone else for that matter. The Synod produces serious social issues with the lot of you, doesn't it? Although, I don't see that in you as much. Not that I've known you for very long. But then again I've never needed that much time."

Ochako's inspecting hands came away from Izuku and the Mage swiftly rewrapped his robes over himself. The girl gave him a brief eye roll, but was more interested in marveling at Nana than admonishing his embarrassment at least.

"That must be an amazing skill to have, to know whether you can trust someone so shortly after meeting them… I wish I could be so certain or so perceptive."

"Well my intuition is not flawless, but I've spent nearly twenty-five years hiding, running, and gathering forbidden knowledge all without being caught by the Synod. I wouldn't be here if I hadn't developed some instincts about people. It helps that all of you are so young and lively. You've had less time to become sour and conniving. You are not so set in your conceptions of the world as the old folk."

She winked lightheartedly and Izuku stopped the light laugh that almost sent him back into a fit of crying and holding himself in stinging pain.

"So you already know whether or not to trust us?" Ochako asked.

Her fascination with the older Mage had been clear from the start and Izuku couldn't help concur it. That interest seemed to manifest in different ways, though.

As a Renegade, it was heartening for Ochako to see another like her having survived so long in a world that wished to destroy her while remaining so cheerful and free spirited. Izuku did find her attitude and skill of self preservation intriguing as well, but he was not going to ignore what he'd witnessed her do during the battle, the stains on her hands, or the things she was teaching Shoto. It was against everything he'd ever been taught and everything he stood for as an Apprentice of the High Circle, but he didn't hate her for using Blood Magic any more than he hated Shoto for using it. He saw a lot of Ochako in her; he saw that she was not the type of Mage that used magic to benefit herself alone. He could see that the Blood Magic was a sacrifice for her, not a pleasure.

"I'll show you," Nana settled back on her haunches and narrowed her eyes at each of them in turn.

"Izuku, you wear your emotions on your sleeves and have seen a lot of scorn from your fellow Mages for it, that includes Shoto," Nana smiled sympathetically at him, "It makes you stand out, either for good or for bad to them, but you have more friendships because of it than most Synod Mages could ever hope to gain in a lifetime. You are open to the idea of being wrong, you see intention, not action. You have a trusting heart and you want everyone to be good even if they try their damndest to show you that they aren't."

"Ochako. You are incredibly strong and I don't speak of your magic, though it's not as weak as the Synod may make you think it will be without their training. It is no small thing for someone in our position to trust a Synod Mage especially when your magic lends more to support than attack. You're brave, but headstrong, possibly even foolishly so. You cling to your loyalties like a lifeline and throw yourself in danger that you have no need to for it. For all the years you have hidden what you are, you are not good at hiding your intentions. You care about your family over everything, that includes Eijiro and Izuku and you will always be motivated by that above all else. I can trust you because our goals are the same. Simply to live, love, and be free."

Izuku and Ochako smiled wide at the lavished words, Ochako not even taking offense at being called headstrong or foolish. She basked in the attention. But then Nana's voice keyed down when she looked back at Izuku, a twinge of sorrow falling over the smile lines in her skin.

"I can trust Izuku because he believes the best in us all, because he doesn't give up on those he loves," she hesitated, "And he will do everything he can to protect Shoto if I fail him."

Izuku bit his inner cheek. "What do you mean-?"

Distant shouts followed clamoring footsteps, fumbling over rubble. Nana was on her feet, but only the wide blown eyes and dark black hair of the bard appeared.

"Are you seeing this?" Kyouka shouted, bursting into the secluded space and rushing right back to an opening in the fallen structure to look up at the still cloud covered canopy overhead.

"Seeing what?" Nana raised an eyebrow.

"In the sky!" she gasped in excitement, "A dragon was just seen flying overhead! It was as big as a mountain and red as a ruby! Someone said they saw a whole person in its hand...paw...whatever!"

"Red!" Ochako gasped, scrambling to where Kyoka stood and propping herself on her tiptoes to see out of the opening, searching the sky.

Izuku and Nana matched wide stares.

"Where did he go?" Izuku asked.

"It was going East," Kyouka shook her head and stepped away from the crack, "Damn, it's gone. You should have seen it, it was like something out of a legend!"

"Apprentice…" Ochako's tone held a warning, "Where did your friend send Red?"

Izuku couldn't help feeling that he was being accused, but he had no such information to give her.

"I don't know, I saw less than you did," he pushed himself to his elbows in his anxiety and groaned, gripping his ribs, but keeping himself in his seat.

"Izuku, be still."

Nana was promptly ignored. His position made it hard to breathe, but he wasn't going to just lie there.

"What are you three on about?" Kyouka asked, her hands already busy in her notebook, scratching out what she had seen with graphite to sing songs of later.

"He's supposed to be staying out of sight," Ochako's face was getting redder by the minute, "He needs to- I need to-"

"Ochako, calm down," Izuku pleaded, "What are you so worried about? He obviously got away."

"But I need to get to him soon and I can't help him if he's flying off to Dalem!" Ochako was pacing, breath coming short, "Damn it all! I didn't finish healing him! I couldn't. He'll only be okay for a short time and that's only if he doesn't get himself wounded again! I only had time to fix the surface level problems… He's- He's-"

Kyouka's pencil had stopped on the paper and her mouth hung open in unasked questions that stalled in her confusion while Izuku's fears mounted with every second of witnessing hers.

"He's what?"

"He's going to die if I get to him in time!" Ochako yelled.

Izuku grimaced, not just on his dread but also on the sharp sting of his quick inhale.

The notebook snapped shut.

"You're telling me you know that majestic beast soaring through these, our mortal skies?" Kyouka waved the book above her head, "And not only that, it's in danger of dying before I even have the chance to meet it?"

"It would appear so," Nana nodded confirmation.

"Well then we have to go right away."

Kyouka pocketed the notebook and cinched the strap on her lute before anyone had even responded.

"What…? Why would you help us find Red?" Ochako shook her head like she'd been slapped awake.

"For the opportunity to meet a creature of legends, of course!" Kyouka laughed, "I'd be lucky to get a glimpse of one in Dracos and not get my head bitten off let alone meet a friendly one that I could study! The songs I could write...the manifestos. The novellas!"

"What about Izuku?" Nana tried to ground the bard, "And Shoto, the Captain, Denki and Mina?"

"If anyone can fend for themselves it's them," Kyouka shrugged, "And if Katsuki's not a half-wit he'll be getting as far away from here as possible as soon as he can anyhow."

"Why?" Izuku hissed through his teeth.

"Todorokis," she huffed, "Can't trust 'em. There's no telling what will turn them on us. It's amazing Katsuki and Shoto convinced them we weren't a threat in the first place."

Izuku was taken aback by the harsh statement. "That's very cynical."

"Practical, my dear Mage," Kyouka winked, "I've got the respect of the Tarls in this Outpost, but once their Commanders ride back it may not be such a happy story. We need to leave anyway and what better destination than to a real life Dragon!"

Ochako was not in any state to argue or find a flaw. She was gathering herself up and taking Izuku's arm to help lift him back to his feet

"But won't that separate us from the others?" Izuku complained, "Won't -Ah! Sh- damn." The act of standing shifted his inside how he hadn't expected and Kyouka rushed in to keep him from collapsing before Nana had a chance.

"Denki and Mina will find us wherever we go," Kyouka said as she caught him, unconcerned, "He's not the boy you left in Solen anymore. He knows what he's doing."

"Kyouka," Nana sounded almost parental, "Is this really about getting everyone to safety or something else?"

She slipped Izuku's arm around her neck while Ochako took his other side and propped him up straight, ready to walk out were it not for Nana standing in their way. Everything about the position was terribly painful and his legs were like jelly, still weak from what Shoto had done to him.

"Of course! I have things I want, but I care that all of you get out alive too. I can be selfless and selfish at once, can't I?"

Nana didn't seem convinced. "Look at Izuku, he's in no state to chase off after Dragons!"

Kyouka looked at Izuku closely and frowned. "Maybe you're right. We could leave him here. He's Synod after all. The Tarls wouldn't have any authority to do anything to him and the Synod healers could take better care of him than you could."

"No!" Izuku tensed, fisting the fabric of her vest before she could slip out from under his arm, "No, I have to see this through. If I go back I'll be stuck there and I won't be able to help Shoto or Eijiro."

"I don't want you to go back to the Synod either, but there's only so far we can drag you without killing you." Nana didn't seem happy about her own argument, "We've used what strength we have to stabilize you, but even that won't help you if you're being jostled about on the back of a horse."

"What if… what if I…" Ochako swallowed hard, chewing her cheek desperately, "What if I tried to use Blood Magic, like you? Just to heal him."

"Ochako, no!" Izuku snapped like she had blasphemed blatantly.

"But we have to do something and-"

"He's right," Nana said just as harshly, "I will not allow anyone else to fall to that corruption."

Her hands fisted tightly at her sides and she winced, hiding the black on her skin as best she could behind her sleeves.

"Then you do it!" Ochako bounced on her heels, impatient.

"With what?" Nana swept out her arm, "I will not take from the unwilling, the dead around us have been dead too long for their blood to do much more than tickle my spells, and none of the three of us have the strength to offer our blood for it."

"Ugh, fine," Kyouka shook her head and jutted out her arm, "Take only what you need."

Nana startled and Izuku choked.

"Kyouka, you don't want that. It's not-"

"I don't care," she insisted, "I came along for the story and I won't get one sitting around here. I'm not afraid."

"I don't like this…" Nana frowned.

Izuku had to agree that it was brash, the decision of one in a hurry, but every second he stood here was agony and breathing was getting steadily harder. He didn't have the ability to argue any further nor the wherewithal to beg them to do something about it.

"Nana, please!" Ochako pleaded in his stead, brown eyes getting bigger by the second.

The eldest Mage was displeased in every sense of the word, glaring at the two sets of anxious eyes and then softened on the labored breaths of Izuku. His obvious discomfort must have gotten through where their petulance had not.

"Alright," she said, "But I'm doing this for Izuku, not for you."

"Thank you," Ochako's breath was a shudder, "Please hurry. Red can fly a great distance in a short time. I swear if he dies because he flew too far and couldn't get back in time I'll kill him!"

Nana snagged Kyouka's arm and pushed back her sleeve, hushing Ochako's anxious rattling. She looked the bard dead in the eye as light came alive in her hand over the upper forearm. It was sharp like the magic Shoto had used to split open Izuku's skin and he felt his stomach turn to look at it.

"It's going to hurt," she warned, "a lot."

Kyouka wrinkled the corner of her mouth in a smile. "Do your worst."

The tense quiet that had surrounded the Mage and Dragon was disrupted suddenly by the griping complaints of a weathered voice and the shuffling pace of feet.

"You owe me big time for this, I hope you know. It's dangerous just being outside of our homes these days let alone traipsing about in forests. This better be serious, young lady."

"You'll get paid, Chiyo, don't worry about that."

This clearing, a bit of hilly earth semi-circled by trees with deeper forestation at it's back, was as far as they'd been able to take Eijiro before his condition had become too concerning to continue. The Magic Shoto had used to spark life and awareness back into him was not affecting him the same and Shoto was getting weaker the longer he tried to keep him alert. So now, in a big enough space for the Eijiro to change forms and far enough away not to be seen by anyone in the town, it was decided that Shoto would wait here with him and keep him conscious while the rest went into Talistone to find the healer.

And they had returned not a moment too soon.

Excitably, Shoto turned on his approachers to find that it was only Mina and an old woman equipped with a leather bag. He looked past them and found no one else following behind.

"Mina, where are the others?" Shoto ignored the old lady.

The elf girl groaned as she tugged the old woman to move faster. "Getting beds and food. You didn't think the proper lady you people call a royal was going to be content with sleeping under the stars and scavenging for forest critters, did you?"

Truthfully, he hadn't thought of her at all. It was hard to consider anything beyond Eijiro's immediate crisis. Which was also serving to distract him from the myriad of other concerns that he'd been presented with since leaving the Keep last night. If anything he hadn't expected the Queen would be staying among them any longer than necessary and would return to the Capitol promptly, but they were all in great need of rest so perhaps they thought it an issue for a later time.

The old woman meandered past Shoto, barely acknowledging him and lowering slowly to her knees beside Eijiro who was blinking blearily from his very still place on the ground. She opened the robes that were wrapped loosely around Eijiro and the boy barely moved in response, until the prodding touch of her fingers against his torso made him winge and cough.

Shoto eyed Mina questioningly, asking without asking whether the old lady could be trusted or not. Mina just shrugged.

"I filled her in on everything, she won't say anything as long as we don't," Mina assured, "She has her own secrets to protect and she's in no position to judge ours."

It was not comforting, but for the sake of their desperation, it was acceptable.

"He looks half dead, but I don't see an injury," she looked back to Mina, "I can't heal him in this form. Ask him to change."

Shoto knelt next to Eijiro and shook his shoulder. Red eyes squeezed tight and then opened up at him as he groaned.

"You need to change back so she can heal you," Shoto told him, "Can you do that?"

"_Yes… Just tired…_" The voice in his head was slow, soft and Shoto's guilt cut him like a whip.

"You can rest after you shift back, just stay awake until then."

"_...You think I'll live?"_

Shoto buried his nails as hard and as deep as he could into his thigh.

"I know you will, just do what I tell you."

Eijiro's head tipped forward a bit and then rolled back, as close to an acknowledgement as he was going to get.

"Step back," Shoto ordered, "He's going to need space."

Shoto helped Eijiro sit up and remove the Master robes, saving them from being entirely destroyed in the transition. He and the healer returned to Mina's side and watched with bated breath for the weary Dragon to either change his scales or pass out completely.

Hesitant at first, Eijiro began the transition in earnest. It was unsettling as it had been before, only this time the sounds he made were all the more horrifying as they shifted from his human voice to the roaring wake of a Dragon's.

Even the old woman who had been so unaffected before was tapping her lip with interest as the human boy she had inspected a moment ago filled the entire clearing with the muscular, red scaled body of a Dragon. His head was lifted high as the frills behind his skull flared and his wings opened, but it lasted only a moment before he collapsed in a waning groan, head smashing to the earth with a world waking thud and wings dropping heavy to the ground. The wounds they had stalled before began to bleed anew, the gashes as fresh as when the Blood Magic had ripped him open the first time.

The healer grabbed her bag and moved in. Her hand waved in the air, alight with a Magical glow. It formed a glyph and the hefty wing rose and fell back on the other side of Eijiro's body as the Magic pulled him more fully on his side to expose the extent of his mangled underbelly.

It was sickening to look at and worse to remember how it had happened; to remember the clawing tendrils of Blood Magic Touya had lashed at him, how easily they had cut through the soft scales beneath him.

"He's a little one, isn't he?" the woman spoke to herself, "A little runt if I've ever seen one."

The idea of a beast as big as a building being called a runt was the most ridiculous thing Shoto had ever heard, but she was already getting started before he could question it.

The new spells that formed in her hand burst quickly out over the Dragon's open wound and the initial, gory sounds of pulling flesh were suddenly overwhelmed by the powerful, whining groan that seemed to shock the Dragon fully awake. Eijiro's legs were tensed to the claws and his breathing turned distressed and labored, the air leaving his nostrils in wafting smoke.

It cringed Shoto to the core to watch the gruesome process, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. He'd gotten Eijiro into this and it was his responsibility to stick with him through the consequences.

"That looks really awful," Mina whispered, "How did that even happen?"

Shoto's cheek flinched. "A Blood Mage. The one we thought was the Summoner."

"Shit," she said, "And all of you together failed to stop him?"

"Yes," Shoto admitted, "I'm starting to think maybe Nana was wrong about me."

"How?"

Shoto squeezed the blood soaked robes in his hands.

"I don't think I'm as powerful as she believes. He was using Blood Magic just like we were and he beat us soundly."

"Of course, he did," Mina crossed her arms.

Shoto frowned at her.

"You and Nana are good humans, you won't do what's necessary to beat a real Fallen Mage."

"What are you saying?" he turned on her, fists twisting harder.

"I'm saying he's willing to do worse things than you are," she elaborated confidently, "Nana was given the perfect situation at Demon's Rise. Everyone was already dead, but they were freshly dead. Not enough time for their blood to lose its potency, but she didn't have to take from the living either. No hard decision had to be made. Your enemy will always win when you have so many conditions restricting you. They won't care who they hurt to reach their goal like you do."

"Are you trying to tell me that I should take my power from the living and unwilling like the Summoner?" Shoto felt disgust rise up his throat like bile.

Mina shrugged and grit her teeth at the Dragon's loud groan and the sound of bones snapping back into place.

"I think you shouldn't limit your options," she blinked away from the Dragon, "If conventional means don't work, then think unconventionally. Denki and I aren't going anywhere, so this isn't a threat or anything, but you need to think this through and decide what you're actually willing to sacrifice before we rush back into another situation where some of us almost die because you and Nana aren't prepared. It's obvious that you aren't ready to take on the real Summoner or the Archdemon yet, so whatever you need to do to be ready, just do it and worry about the consequences later."

Her straightforward demand was unnerving to Shoto; he had to worry about every consequence. If he didn't he would be no better than the Summoner, no better than Touya…

"We will be ready next time," Shoto said firmly, though the words didn't match his thoughts, "Do not doubt it."

The Fallen Mage was correct about part of his mad ramblings; Shoto was trying to prove something. He was strong enough to do this and he could do it without losing himself entirely to the corruption of Fallen Magic. He didn't need to be saved by some fraudulent family or long lost brother. When he and Nana regrouped they would find the answer and the next time they faced the Summoner or thay Fallen Mage they wouldn't stand a chance.

Mina shrugged. "I'll take your word for it, just don't expect me to be overwhelmed with faith."

By then the biggest of the gashes on Eijiro's underbelly was sealed and it had obviously taken its toll. His head was back on the ground and his eyes were glazed, half closed, exhausted. He'd been incredibly quiet inside Shoto's head, which had worried him more than the roaring. He hadn't known him long, but he certainly didn't know him to be speechless.

"Is he going to pull through?" Shoto couldn't help asking the healer.

She wiped sweat from her brow despite the weather that was growing gradually colder by the day and wiped her hands on a towel she'd carried in her case.

"He will be perfectly fine," she sighed, "But he will be healed sooner if I'm not interrupted."

Shoto's lips tensed, but he held any further questions, turning them to Mina instead.

"Who is this woman?" he muttered.

"Chiyo," Mina answered, "She lives in the Undercity in Talistone. Takes care of the ragamuffins and low lives down there. She's surprisingly good with children if you can believe it."

Shoto didn't quite, but he also didn't care.

"No, I mean what is she?" he clarified, "How does a Renegade know this much about Healing Magic?"

Mina lowered her voice to a whisper. "First of all, the Synod is not the only source of knowledge in the fucking known world, Shoto, expand your damn horizons for once. But as a matter of fact, she was trained by the Synod. She used to lead creature research and wrote a few of those spells you and your friends study up there in your little Mage towers."

"That's impossible," Shoto scowled, "Once Synod, always Synod."

"Unless they believe you are dead," Chiyo tossed back an annoyed look at them, a glowing hand hovering over an open wound.

Both Mina and Shoto blanched sheepishly, believing they had been quiet enough not to be heard until she had interrupted.

Mina chewed her cheek and pulled Shoto back a few steps, hoping to get out of earshot so that the Healer could get back to her work.

"I'm an elf, I don't get your whole system of oppression here," Mina shook her head, "All I know is she was Synod, she faked her death, now she's here, healing people in secret."

"Why didn't you mention that before?"

"It's her secret to keep, not mine," Mina opened her hands, "Besides I didn't really want to bring up her past in front of Eijiro…"

"Why?"

The elf darted her eyes between the dazed face of the Dragon and the old woman.

"She did study Dragons too," Mina grit her teeth, "but in the way that you cut them open and look at their insides and jar their eyeballs and such."

A week ago a thought like that would have been fairly normal. The Synod Researchers were never afraid to get their hands very dirty in the pursuit of knowledge and until Landsleave a Dragon was just an animal to him. A corrupted animal even.

Now he looked at Eijiro's face and his gut dropped at the thought of someone killing him and cutting him up for the sake of research. Especially research into finding better ways to kill those like him.

"I see," he watched the ground.

"Look, I'm as fascinated by Dragons as the next elf and I'd never want something bad to happen to Eijiro," Mina shifted back and forth, "But we can't guilt ourselves over our peoples having killed them before. Eijiro is a sweet kid, but his kind ravaged lands for centuries. Hard to blame our ancestors for not wanting to live on scorched earth."

"I thought Moondancers were accepting of all Magic," Shoto said, "It's hard to think you wouldn't worship Dragons."

"Do you worship the bear that attacks your children in the woods?" Mina frowned.

"No… I suppose not."

"They've killed us just like they've killed humans. Even we agreed that they should be driven to Dracos. And even if they have always had sentience and even if we have a particular interest in their species, they are not meant to coexist with creatures like us. It's not wrong to want to learn how best to defend against them; they are incredibly dangerous after all. Do you really think your own people would be better off with Dragons still infesting Gaetha?"

"Of course not," Shoto chewed his cheek, "There has just been a lot to consider since meeting him… There was a time in the Synod where slaying a Dragon was akin to conquering a Major Demon… At the birth of the Synod it was customary to paint the doors of any new Magesterium or Seat with Dragon's Blood. To this day it's tradition that a Dragon Skull is displayed in any hall where Synod Mage's officially gather."

"That's disgusting," Mina turned venomously on him.

"There are no remains to gather by killing Demons," Shoto cringed back from her, "Their bodies in this world disintegrate upon death. Dragons have always been considered the closest living creature to the ether...something I can't rightly dispute even now."

"So you were desperate to show off trophies of your conquests against the ether?" Mina's tone got only harsher, even as it quieted lower and lower.

"No," Shoto snipped, "We don't have trophies. It's meant as a symbol, a reminder of our purpose. Our purpose to defeat the stain of the ether in ourselves, to rise above it and to quell the ether that comes to our world. The Dragon Skull has always been a symbol of the ether in Gaetha and we use it in humility."

"Well it's a sign of bad fucking luck where I'm from," Mina huffed, "How stupid are the lot of you that you need reminders of your damn job all over where you live?"

Shoto's jaw hurt. He hadn't realized he'd been clenching it so tightly. He was starting to get an idea of why Katsuki found her so irritating.

"I wouldn't expect someone like you to understand," Shoto said, curtly.

Mina cocked her head at him, "I really can't take you seriously, talking all Synod and mighty when your hands look like that."

His heart clenched and he looked. He didn't want to give her the satisfaction, but ever since he'd faced Touya he'd stayed on emotionally rocky ground and Mina's was becoming talented at making her words to cut to the center each time.

"But that's a discussion for another time…" she added.

He was about to come back biting and angry at her, but before he could she'd dropped a hand on his shoulder and pointed back to Eijiro, drawing his attention back to the reason they were both here.

The Healer had fallen back on her hands and was panting, arms unstable and weak beneath her. But in front of her were only faint scars where open wounds and gushing blood had once been. There was still plenty staining the ground beneath him, but Eijiro's wounds were clean and his breathing had come to a calm pattern, no longer labored and rough. His eyes were closed, but the groaning and upset noises were gone. He looked peacefully at rest.

Shoto gasped relief at the sight and stumbled forward, pushing away from Mina's hand, their argument forgotten in an instant.

Chiyo scrambled in her bag while Shoto looked over the work she'd done, wide eyes searching over the tight, dull pink scars freshly stitched across red scales. He touched it lightly and then spread his palm open against the largest one. He quickly understood why the injury had been so devastating. The scales on Eijiro's back were harder than armor, but these on his belly were soft, malleable, radiating heat. There was very little protection to be found against any attack whether it was a sword or the full force of Blood Magic.

Shoto called out through his mind, "_Eijiro? Can you hear me?"_

It was deeply quiet for the longest moment of his life, before there was a sleepy hum in his head, resonating in the comfortingly familiar, youthful tone.

"_Guess I lived…"_

Shoto thanked the Fates and eternal powers, closing his eyes in an instant to gather himself and feel the relief of hearing how normal, if not incredibly tired, he sounded.

"_Looks that way," _Shoto dropped his hand and stepped back, but the Dragon didn't move yet, "_How do you feel?"_

"_Like I fought four Major Demons, got my ass handed to me by a Blood Mage, and almost died."_

A loud, heavy snort burst from the unmoving Dragon's nose and Shoto startled.

"_I mostly just feel hungry,"_ Eijiro sighed in his head, "_Healing Magic takes it out of you…"_

Shoto looked to where Chiyo was sitting and found her taking large bites from a piece of dried meat she had wrapped up inside the bag. It reminded him of his own lack of energy from the magic he had used that day, but his appetite was not nearly ready to make any appearance of its own.

"_I don't suppose there are any grazing cows wandering nearby or anything…?"_

"I'm afraid not," Shoto said out loud.

"What's he saying?" Mina was circling the Dragon with a fascinated glimmer in her eye.

"That he's hungry."

"What do Dragons eat?" Mina tapped a scale and Eijiro shifted, making her jump back.

"People," Chiyo threw up an eyebrow.

"_No, thank you,"_ the Dragon flicked his tongue in distaste.

"He's civilized, Chiyo," Mina scolded the old woman, "He doesn't eat human or elves… I think…"

"No, he doesn't," Shoto confirmed.

"_Unless I have to,"_ Eijiro clarified, one of his eyes rolling slowly open on Shoto.

"_I'm not translating that."_

"_I wouldn't eat a Mage anyway. Your blood is basically poison."_

"_What about elves or regular humans?"_

"_It's not my first choice and your species are mostly bone anyway…"_

"_I really don't want to know any of this."_

"_It's sort of a funny story actually-"_

"_Eijiro, stop."_

"What's he saying now?" Mina watched the shifting expressions dance over Shoto's face during their mental conversation.

"Nothing you want to hear." he answered.

"_A dear would be wonderful right now, though."_

"You should likely feed him," Chiyo stood, "Healing Magic drains strength equally for the healer and the one it heals."

"So we need to go hunting?" Shoto looked around himself and frowned, "I'm a Mage, not a hunter."

Mina rolled her eyes. "Not that I expected you to be, but this is a new level of useless for you, human."

"If you can do something than do it, don't waste breath berating me for what I can't do," he hissed at her, "It's not a necessary skill for a Synod Mage."

"It most certainly is," Chiyo wagged a finger, "In my day it was required learning for any apprentice and imperative to any Mage that might see battle with the ether. Did your Master teach you nothing, boy?"

"Yes, my Master taught me practically nothing," Shoto said with severe finality, not looking to continue talking to the old woman when Mina was the one frustrating him.

But then the elf girl snorted a full laugh.

Shoto blinked and startled, as she leaned over, gripping her gut and grabbing onto the leg of the Dragon for support while she cackled.

"Damn it, Shoto, you are practically dense," she continued laughing, "I'm not berating you. I'm just teasing you."

"That's hardly different," He felt his skin get warm across his cheeks and nose.

"Stop taking everything so personally," Mina straightened and smiled lightly, "I hate the Synod, not you. But you make it so easy to pick on you. You and the Captain are like brick walls, but at least you can get Katsuki excited for something and make him understand a joke."

That heat was running through his ears and neck now and he was certain he was turning pink.

But Mina wasn't paying any attention to his obvious signs of embarrassment. She was fishing in her satchel and already walking past Shoto.

She dropped a few silvers in Chiyo's open palm and then slipped a small, throwing knife from her belt as she set out towards the forest.

"Keep him company, I'll be back with food," she chuckled as she walked away, "But tell him if he wants anything afterwards he'll have to hunt it himself."

Shoto moved to argue, chase after, anything, but she was already out of sight, disappearing into the forest at their backs with the stealth he could only expect of a Moondancer. It didn't abate his irritation, but at least Eijiro would be able to eat.

"_I understand her fine like this,"_ Eijiro said, "_You don't have to translate."_

"_I wasn't planning to."_

"_She's right, though, you should relax a little…"_

Shoto glared at the ground, holding down his annoyance by threads. He chose not to address the comment.

"Rest while you can, Eijiro. As soon as you can fly or shapeshift we need to get inside the city or find a better place to hunker down until the others get here."

"_It's not safe here?"_

"We aren't safe as long as we're in Tarlson."

He looked around himself, at the pines and the sloping landscape and the etchings of a city that could be discerned through breaks in the treeline. They were near the border of Tarlson and Dalem, but not quite out of the reach of those they were running from. Not that Dalem would be safe, but at least the Tarls would have less authority if they planned to chase them there.

"This area in particular is pretty open. They may not be able to see us easily from Talistone, but if the Tarls come marching through, they'll pass close enough that you'll be impossible to disguise. Your size and color are not... stealthy."

The large red eye turned away from him and a loud breath huffed out from Eijiro's maw.

"_I'm sorry. I don't mean to be a pain in the ass."_

"_Try not to worry about it,"_ Shoto sighed.

Eijiro was, in fact, a terrible inconvenience at the moment, but the benefits of having a Dragon on their side outweighed the negatives. And after saving all of their lives today, the boy deserved better than to beat himself up for being almost killed in the process.

Shoto patted the scales near his shoulder and looked back out to the forest and the quiet that came from it.

"_Just rest, Eijiro. We will all have plenty of time to tear ourselves apart over our failings when this is over._


End file.
